Little Brother 2
by Nyx6
Summary: Dean is now happy and settled with Roman and his family and things are going ridiculously well, but when an old face comes crawling out of the woodwork, will they manage to ruin the new life he has built and what do they want from the scrappy teenager? Shameless brother vibes and drama ahead.
1. One

**Welcome back everybody, thanks for stopping by. Are we ready to do this crazy thing again? Yes? Okay, without further ado then...**

* * *

 **One.**

The guy slopes in sometime around mid-morning and is still there when Roman returns from late lunch. The gym is located in a pretty bad neighborhood and so unsavoury looking customers aren't exactly untoward, but there's something about the man that makes Roman falter and draws up the hackles across the back of his neck.

Something about him just feels off somehow, like he doesn't belong there.

"Hey, who's that?"

Truth looks up and then follows the pointing finger before making an understanding sort of _o_ -shape with his mouth,

"We've got another try out, little man will be happy."

In mentioning _little man_ he's talking about Dean, who several months earlier had mooted a new proposal whereby people could drop in and try the gym out for free, with the expectation being that they would then want full membership, which in the nine weeks it's been running has taken off pretty well. On top of that however it's just another example of how the kid is flourishing within the red brick walls and how his business mind is not only sharpening but at the same time sort of broadening as well. In actual fact Roman is utterly damn proud of him and sometimes it seems the kid is proud of himself too –

None of which changes the look of the man in front of them who is going so slowly on one of the treadmills that he's actually in danger of grinding to a halt and who doesn't seem interested at all in the exercise which seems to defy the point of hitting up a gym.

Roman frowns,

"How long has he been on there?"

Because he _swears_ the answer is a couple of hours, which would certainly explain why he's moving so slowly but not a lot else.

Truth shrugs,

"Not sure man."

He follows it up by indicating the open floor space, which is bursting with people burning calories and sweat, in a way that had seemed hopeless not nine long months earlier –

Or at least until the time when Dean had shown up.

In short though what it means is that Truth can't watch everyone and so hasn't been keeping real tabs on the man and in response Roman nods and blows a short breath out because he doesn't want to make it seem bigger than it is. Besides which Truth has a knack for reading people which could never be accused of having steered them wrong and so if his internal meter isn't screaming and whistling then maybe it's Roman's that is suddenly turned off?

He sighs in response,

"Where is uce anyway?"

"Helping a pretty girl out with her training."

"He's what?"

Truth grins broadly and then nods across the room a bit towards the space where their various weight benches are set up. Sure enough the perky sixteen year old is stood there and hovering keenly beside a skinny well-toned blonde, wearing a goofy sort of look across his features and with a pair of heart shapes where his eyes usually are. The woman laughs – well, more like titters – then reaches out and lightly bats at Dean's arm and in response Roman feels a little building hitch of worry because the woman is quite possibly old enough to be Dean's mom. Or if not his mother then at least an older sister or potentially even a youthful looking aunt. Either way the one thing she isn't young enough for is flirting with a teenager.

Roman blinks,

 _Nuh uh._

He's stalking across the floor before he registers he's moving and glowering as well with a hot protective rage, because what kind of woman sets romantic sights on children instead of trying to find herself a man her own age? Aside from which Roman has only just freed Dean from years of abuse at the hands of his old man and so while the giggling blonde may not want to beat on him, Roman damn sure isn't going to let her lead him astray.

It is why he arrives by the weight bench looking testy and with a mean sort of glare he doesn't very often use and even _then_ hardly ever on women –

Dean looks up grinning,

"Uce, this is Carmel."

Her eyes widen slightly and then she flutters her lashes,

"Uh, it's Carmell _a_."

Roman grunts back because he still isn't sure of her or her intentions and her general look isn't one that screams _him,_ being far too powdered and fluffy haired to be attractive although he nods out of courtesy even through the warning glare,

"Nice to meet you."

"This is Roman," Dean scampers round and snatches up his brother's arm, using it to tow the clueless gym owner closer until the pair are stood right next to her, "Guy I was telling you about."

 _Huh_?

Evidently there is something going on between them, although thankfully it doesn't seem weird or over-sexed and instead appears focussed on him of all people.

Carmella bats her lids again,

"So you own the gym?"

Roman blinks because as always there's a difference between managing and owning but in the end he nods his head, since most people don't really care for the specifics and only want to know whether or not he's in charge.

"I'm the boss, sure."

She licks her lips a little and in the process manages to swipe off a coating of gloss, but there's a weird sort of hunger as well to her expression and based on it Roman assumes she wants a job. To his side Dean is still stood grinning broadly like an idiot and positively buzzing with a peppy sort of glee, with Roman unsure of what the hell is really happening.

At least until a business card suddenly flashes out.

It's clutched between two manicured fingers and offered beneath a half-lidded wanton gaze. It also contains a name and a telephone number which he takes in semi-bafflement.

She purrs,

"Call me, 'kay?"

Much as she did with Dean – only tighter – she briefly latches her hand around his arm and when he looks up Roman is very nearly startled by how closely and intensely she is staring his way.

"Uh, what about?"

Dean quickly digs him with an elbow, like the question is one he should already have figured out. Only he hasn't and he is feeling more addled than ever.

Carmella shakes her head,

"So cute," she sighs.

In sauntering off past them she swings her hips a little and both of them watch her booty sway side to side, which Roman only realizes very belatedly as he notices Dean's shaggy head bobbing in time.

"Hey."

Frowning a little he shunts the boy roughly which makes him stumble but does at least avert the eyes and Dean blows a breath out once she's clearly out of earshot and adopts a cheeky smile,

"Pretty nice, right?"

"She's too old for you and she's not getting a job here."

Dean blinks,

"What?"

"Girls like that are trouble uce, trust me."

The kid grins a little,

"You think she likes _me_? Okay sure, I mean, I figured she had good taste an' all an' it's not like I could turn a girl like her down except it isn't _me_ that she wants here big brother."

The use of the nickname throws him a little and Roman falters briefly,

"It's not?"

"Nope," he pronounces the word with a _popping_ sound, then pokes him in the chest for good measure, "It's you."

In saying it – if it's possible – Dean's smile grows even wider and he starts to bounce around on the balls of his toes, looking a lot like a rambunctious puppy who's recently been asked if he wants to go out in the yard. His perpetually messy copper hair helps the visual since it flops up and down like scruffy dog ears and he even pokes his tongue between his teeth and then traps it there which solidifies the whole _pooch thing_.

Roman heaves out a sigh.

In the close to six months that he and Dean have been roommates the kid has seemingly sort of fully opened up and for the most part Dean spends his days either laughing or flashing them all with an ear to ear grin. It fails on occasion when the kid recalls his father or something triggers a sudden memory of the abuse. But fortunately even _those_ days are getting fewer and fewer and he hasn't had a sweating, screaming night terror in months. In essence therefore, Dean Ambrose is fighter and Roman couldn't be prouder of that fact but the other blunt truth is that the boy is also trouble and so he frowns in preparation,

"What did you do?"

Big blue eyes blink back with a casual little twinkle that almost makes Roman heave a groan out right there, because he knows it's the look that Dean gets when he's thinking or more than likely _scheming_ or masterminding some plan.

"I told her you were single."

Roman gapes at him,

"You did _what_?"

Dean shrugs,

"Well, I mean, you are, an' you're like _eligible_ too so I figured that she might be the type 'a girl you went for."

"Uce – ,"

The kid falters,

"I – I thought she seemed nice."

He sucks a breath in and then frowns just a little before casting his eyes down to stub the matting with his toes. He's wearing the sneakers Roman had bought him right the way back soon after they'd first met and which he's so damn attached to that he struggles to take off ever. Hell, Roman figures he'd _sleep_ in them given half the chance and that thought makes him shake his head fondly and reach out his hand.

"Idiot, c' mere."

He draws the kid closer, bumping him up against his ribcage and then lifting his paw up to tousle roughly through the hair in a movement that makes the teenager snort at him and then chuckle just a little as he tries to fight him off.

" _Roman_ – ,"

But the bigger man isn't going anywhere and instead holds tighter,

"Listen to me uce, I appreciate you trying to hook me up back there, you hear me? But I'm okay being on my own right now. I got the business, I got this annoying kid brother – ,"

He rubs the hair backwards and Dean struggles again,

" _Hey_."

Roman ignores him,

"Besides which I would never date one of our customers, _way_ too blurry and she was kinda – ,"

He stops, because it's not in his nature or upbringing to be spiteful and he's right of the cusp of saying something not nice. Dean however doesn't have the same filters and so thinks on it a little,

"You mean she looked like a tramp?"

Roman gapes and then claps his hand around the hair crop to drop it down firmly across the teenager's mouth, trying and failing to stifle his amusement while Dean chuckles through the hold,

"Little brother you are the worst."

As Dean ducks out of his grasp and tries to jab him with what are some of his increasing retinue of boxing skills, Roman snatches up the back of his collar and keeps him at just about arm's length away. The kid is grinning and his face is flushed slightly and it makes him look happy and just so damn _alive_. There are few things in life that Roman is truly proud of, but taking a chance on Dean all those months back and giving him a job is at the top of the list and he is thankful everyday that he made the decision since it gifted him a relationship that neither one of them would be without.

"Roman," Dean grunts, "No fair, let go of me,"

He twists on the floor and half strangles himself and the bigger man lets go in an instant, laughing,

"Alright, alright, now go do some damn work."

Rolling his eyes the teenager blows a breath out, then spends a second or two re-adjusting his threads. The kid loves his shirt and wears it so proudly it's like the thing is a medal he picked up in 'Nam and chuckling fondly Roman swipes the messy hair again and uses it to joking propel the kid away. As he does that however, he happens to glance up again and his eyes fall directly on the unsettling treadmill guy, whose eyes are damn near burning across the room at them as he watches every movement like he's drinking the scene in. He has stopped his running – well, walking – altogether and is instead just sort of stood by the machine and Roman comes suddenly to the realization that he isn't watching _both_ of them –

He's just watching Dean.

It's possible of course that the look is a simple one, like maybe he thinks the kid is working underage or maybe he has seen him on a local TV spot or in a newspaper interview since they've done a few of those. But deep down Roman feels the look is more disturbing and either way he does _not_ want it pointed at his uce, although as he steps towards him there's a yell from the corner as two guys square up loudly about whose towel is whose. A couple of staff are there in an instant, cooling things down and stepping the men off, but it distracts Roman's view just marginally long enough that when he looks back again, the staring guy is gone.

 _Dam_ n.

Quickly his eyes find out Dean busy working and he sighs a little in the knowledge that he's safe. Maybe it's nothing and he's overreacting?

Even so, he keeps Dean close for the rest of the day.

* * *

 **Right, so, answers on a postcard, who is the mystery man on the treadmill and is he going to be a good or bad guy?**

 **See you in two days!**


	2. Two

**I'm doing a public service and being nice to Dean in this one...or mean...no, perhaps just a little bit mean given the teen angst...ugh, I don't even know anymore!**

 **Mandy, The boys being boys and messing around with each other is just such a cute visual to me, so I had to write it in, glad you liked it and are back for this crazy little ride again!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, So, you're voting good guy? Duly noted. Not giving anything away but be sure to let me know if your decision stays the same or changes after this! Nice to have you back for this btw!**

 **Sodapop25, Don't you worry, this story has plenty left to come. Not quite as long as the mammoth last story, but this has lots of chapters too, so lots to sink your teeth into (I hope).**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Aww, I'm super happy to be a tiny part of getting anyone writing again. Hope it's working out, it really is the best pastime (when it goes right that is!) Keep me updated!**

 **Ohana1337, Haha, always happy to be at your service breaking hearts *salutes* reporting for duty! I love your optimism on the guy...no, really I do! Super happy to see you back for this ride!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Ooooh, nice guesses, but I couldn't possibly say more about the guy… just yet! Yeah, Dean trying to help Roman but** _ **not**_ **helping. Totally Dean. So pumped you're back for this btw!**

 **HannonsPen, Click that seatbelt in, because you're right about Dean's poor crazy world! Mama Reigns is back and she's even better in this one too! Happy you're tuning in for round two of this!**

 **Stingerette1975, Haha, Roman isn't so sure of Carmella and Roman either, so I wouldn't worry on that front! So pleased you're back for this second go around too! As for the guy? Well...**

 **Skovko, Yeah, Dean's ideas on matchmaking aren't that polished, but at least he's trying to do right by his big bro. Like he said, Roman's too much of a catch to be without a special lady!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Your hunch about him sticking around might just be right...okay, it's right. But I'm going to keep quiet on whether he's good or bad for another couple of chapters yet!**

 **BankonReigns87, Aww, thank you! I hope re-reading the first one again didn't make the shine come off and got you in the mood for this one. Hopefully it will be just as good as the last!**

 **Rebel8954, Nice guesses, but I can confirm or deny nothing about him being a cameo or a brand new guy. You'll just have to keep reading (see, I've hooked you, now I'm reeling you in!)**

 **Okay, maybe time for a new cameo perhaps?**

* * *

 **Two.**

It's kind of funny really – sort of poetic or some crap like it – that not three days after Dean bags on his brother for not having a girlfriend, he falls in love himself. Or maybe not _love_ since he doesn't know what that feels like but he certainly gets hit with something pretty damn hard.

He's sitting on the window seat in Mama and Papa Reigns' house and waiting to be called to get something to eat. It's a Friday which is his and Roman's night go round there and have a meal just the four of them without sisters and kids and which also means that a big roast chicken is cooking with lots of potatoes.

Which always tastes like bliss.

Yet even the prospect of his favorite dinner seems to pale in comparison when he sets eyes on the girl, who is towing a chunky looking bulldog along the sidewalk and jerking to a halt whenever it pulls on the leash.

Her hair is blonde and short and sort of choppy, not long and pulled back like girls usually wear and she's dressed in ripped jeans and an oversized sweatshirt that makes her look sporty and sort of weirdly laid-back. As the dog halts again to pee on Mama Reigns' rose bush, the girl rolls her eyes and begins to tap her foot and Dean can see her lips moving in frustration and longs to her what her voice sounds like.

His heart is sort of thudding against his ribcage and it sends up a thick wash of blood into his ears. It's similar in some ways to when his father used to hit him but is warmer and _exciting_ and doesn't hold the same fear. His palms sweat too and he swipes them off absently down the baggy sides of his own denim threads and he is so busy staring and gaping at the prettiness that he doesn't even register his name being said,

"Dean?"

He jolts as Papa Reigns drops a hand down and it startles a few sheets of paper from his lap, which contain some rough doodles for one his latest business brainwaves but had swiftly been forgotten when he'd laid eyes on _her_.

"Huh – what?"

The family patriarch frowns down at him, but out of concern instead of anything else and although that has taken a while to get used to, Dean loves seeing it,

"Are you okay son?"

"I'm – uh – _yep_."

He answers too quickly and the brows of the older man draw in at once, not buying the reply for so much as a second and using the instincts that have made him the city's fifth richest man.

"You sure?"

"Uh, yeah, let's go into the kitchen."

In terms of convincing acting the performance is not his best and as Dean stands up several pencils clatter earthwards, but it doesn't really matter just so long as the reason for his sudden flush of awkwardness remains _un_ found out. Because although he is grateful for the comfort of the Reigns' house, he's still a teenage boy and so he doesn't want the fuss, although unfortunately – possibly owing to said _instincts_ or else having raised three rambunctious daughters and a son – Papa Reigns simply follows the trajectory and ducks to look out of the window.

"Uh huh."

Dean's cheeks burn.

 _Crap_.

"I uh – ,"

"She's very pretty, do you know her?"

He shakes his head awkwardly,

"No."

"She seems to like your car."

"What?"

More pencils tumble floor-bound as Dean slings around keenly and presses his hot hands against the glass. Sure enough the blonde is gazing over at his mustang and tipping her head to get an even better look, on top of which she's biting her lip down like she's covetous or else potentially madly in love.

Dean sort of tingles.

 _Ugh, not now_.

"Perhaps you should go out there and talk to her about it."

The teenager gapes in horror,

"Huh? _N_ - _no_."

"Why not?"

Papa Reigns is staring back at him evenly and in response Dean's feels his chest starting to pull. It isn't going to happen. No way can he go out there and strike up a conversation with a pretty girl like that –

A girl who probably comes from a super nice family that wouldn't dream of their letting their kid hang around with some street trash. Because even though Mama and Papa Reigns make him belong there, not even they can truly change what he is. Besides which he would almost undoubtedly get tongue-tied and end up talking gibberish or insulting her instead and so frankly it seems easier to sort of _dream_ about her and pretend that they would be the perfect match safely in his head. The real world traditionally hasn't been too kind to him.

He doesn't want to reach for anything he shouldn't have.

The pretty blonde continues to gaze at the mustang and then the bulldog pulls her sharply again and she moves on, following the paunchy little canine along the flowerbed and flicking her hair.

Dean swallows.

 _Oh god_.

"Looks like she's leaving, last chance to go out and break the ice son."

The teenager shakes his head almost wildly, the answer sort of puffed out like he's deflating,

"I _can't_ – ,"

"Can't what?"

Roman's voice cuts in through the panic and in response to it Dean mildly bites back a groan. Usually the warm deep tones are a comfort and help calm him down when's twitchy or amped up. Only now they promise the same sort of scrutiny currently being offered by the grinning patriarch, who Dean can only hope doesn't spill on what's happening and land him right in the –

"Our boy's got a crush."

 _Great_.

Why not tell the whole damn family in the round robin letter that Mama Reigns likes to send and maybe throw in a line or two about the rash he'd had and which the doctor had described absently as _mild chafing_? Because seriously he loves his newfound family and never, never wants to let them go ever again, but sharing his every waking moment and troubles with them is still kind of weird and not natural to him. Which is likely a by-product of having lived with his real dad where any sort of sentence was answered with a fist and which had gradually encouraged him that silence was safer.

It's been a long road trying to forget all that again.

"What?"

Roman blinks and quirks his head a little and his mouth turns up into a tiny half-smile, tempered as well by vague apprehension and no doubt thinking back to a few days before.

Carmella.

Dean rolls his eyes a bit at _that_ thought because he's still kind of smarting from Roman having turned her down. Not that he thought she'd been perfect for his brother but even as a hook-up evidently he'd run wide and his attempts to give something back and be try to be helpful had pretty much shrivelled up with it and died.

Roman needs a girl though –

Dean has decided.

He's too much of a teddy to not to have a lady in his life and the fact that he hasn't gone out himself to try to find one is as much of a question as it is a surprise and something that Dean had thought he could rectify, although based on _that_ attempt he's had his first strike.

Outside the girl has sort of stalled by the flower bed and is trying to drag the chubby bulldog back off only he's grinding in his heels as he tramples through the peonies and her look of sheer embarrassment is pretty damn cute.

Roman grins – in relief Dean figures – then the eyes swing back as he whistles,

"Nice uce."

Dean wants the ground to swallow him entirely and drops his head into his hands with a grumble.

"Ugh, _stop_."

Both men beside him are beaming like idiots and the teen can only pray the girl doesn't look up, because if she does she'll find them all staring like weirdos and with him there flushed like a ripened beetroot.

Could the situation get any damn worse?

"Dinner's ready – what in the world are you boys looking at?"

Dean folds back against the window with a thud and even lets loose a gruff little mumble as his embarrassment reaches every member of the house.

Mama Reigns is standing still wearing an apron, although she is halfway through the process of shrugging it off and her hair is ever so slightly dishevelled from where she's been cooking both ably and lovingly hard. Swiping the back of her hand across her forehead and leaving a tiny little sweep of floury dust, she crosses towards them with a frown of confusion and cups Dean's face gently,

"Baby are you alright?"

He leans into the touch and it briefly quells the blushing although Papa Reigns turns and tugs his wife's rolled up sleeve, pointing out of the window with a chuckle as he manoeuvres her closer,

"Why don't you take a look and see?"

As his _sort of_ adopted mom peers out beyond the casement, Dean steels himself for a womanly squeal or a burst of sudden feminine excitement which he knows he will have to both accept and fend away.

Instead however, she merely blinks cautiously,

"Hasn't her family just moved in three doors down?"

Dean startles.

"She's a _neighbor_?"

Is that a good or a bad thing?

Mama Reigns nods and then very lightly frowns, as if she doesn't quite get what exactly is happening, although they all see the moment she finally works it out and hear it too since it happens mid-sentence,

"They moved in a few days ago, maybe or two or three – _oh._ "

Dean winces in expectation but is both startled and grateful when the wash of elation doesn't fully seem to come and when he looks up Mama Reigns is gazing at him, all cool and collected.

She briskly claps her hands,

"Right come on everyone, dinner's getting colder and I'm not reheating, so butts on seats now."

Papa Reigns and Roman are almost _hauled_ from the window and then chivvied to the table with propelling little pats, which take the heat away from Dean's beaming red cheek bones and make him love her more if that's possible at all.

Right before she steps off, she pauses very briefly to brush a caring hand through the scruff of his hair and then leans in so the others won't hear her, while throwing in a wink.

"I'll do some recon on her."

Dean isn't sure what _recon_ is exactly but at the same time he trusts that she won't do him wrong and so nods his acceptance and then breathes a little sigh out as she turns and leaves him to gather his thoughts.

Glancing from the window one last time at the blonde girl reveals her ripped jeans just striding out of view and he tilts his head a little and smiles like a puppy –

At which point he suddenly notices the truck.

It is sitting parked up across the road looking battered, which makes it stand out like a beacon at once, since most of the cars in the neighborhood are foreign and new and expensive which the dented black ride is not. There's a man behind the wheel who is staring through the window, with one arm braced casually over the rim and the jowly and untidily bearded face is unmoving as it peers across at the distance.

Seemingly at _him_.

Something lurches in Dean's chest almost on instinct because the look is not a friendly one and feels obtrusive somehow, although he's not fully sure the guy can see through the glazing.

It feels like it though –

It feels like they've made contact and in response to the weirdness Dean frowns then shifts away, sliding across the cushions and back down onto the carpet as a waft of roast chicken drifts in across the room, joined by the clattering of crockery and glasses as across the hall food is dished out onto plates. He steps towards it and almost instantly he does it there is the fire of an engine somewhere outside, followed a second later by the whistle of rubber and then a bright flash as the truck's windshield catches the light. When Dean peers back out, both the bulky man and vehicle are seemingly completely removed from the street which makes him blow out a little grunt of reassurance because he hadn't liked the thought of the guy scoping out the Reigns' house.

Although maybe it was just a funny sort of coincidence?

Maybe the guy was just dropping something off and gazing around at all the wealth that was about him. Hell, Dean could plenty understand that and had even done the same exact thing on his first time there and seen the buildings on the street, which were beautiful and white, not to mention wholesome and palatial.

It was hard _not_ to stare.

 _Yep_.

That was all it had been.

"Dean honey?"

At the sound of Mama Reigns calling, he turns from the window and pads off to take his seat, barely even giving the staring eyes another moment –

Although later he'll wish he had done just that.

* * *

 **Teenage love, isn't it beautiful?! Also awkward...yeah, mostly awkward!**

 **So, staring guy is back again and now he's at the house. The mystery deepens (or at least I hope it does, that was the intention anyway!)**


	3. Three

**Here we go then, chapter three already! By the way, I know it's been kinda focussed in on that, but this story actually isn't about the boys love lives at all, as will soon become clear...**

 **Funby57, Haha, well I have a rule about not mentioning RL wives/girlfriends in my stories, but I figure the descriptions made it pretty clear, plus I needed to give the poor boy something good!**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Aww, I like her and so does teen Dean, but honestly she's not named yet so she's whoever you want and no, by the way, this isn't a romance, she pops up once more total.**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Stupid is a good word to describe our creeper (see next chapter) Plus, Mama Reigns being all low-key would be hilarious, but she needs to know if the girl's good enough for her son!**

 **Raze Olympus, Well, I have very good news for you, Carmella was a one cameo appearance only. Roman wasn't feeling her at all, so she'll just have to bat her lashes some other way!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Hey, glad you're still enjoying it. Got a cute little brotherly chapter for this one and then we're right on back into the high drama again!**

 **Mandy, Well then I'm glad I got you in the mood for dinner. Roast meals are the best things in the world. Also, yeah, in love and awkward teen Dean is the cutest and so fun to write as well!**

 **Minnie1015, Don't worry about missing the first one, I know you were busy! Haha, yes, your favourite breed got a shoutout (you're welcome, so are they!) Awkward crush Dean is so fun!**

 **Shanynde, Aww, I'm glad you're happy! Neither of them play a very big part at all, but I wanted Dean's first love to be something pretty real and so naturally she was the obvious choice!**

 **Skovko, He's in love and really awkward so it's a double whammy for him. What's more embarrassing than your family knowing you're in love and laughing at you? Answer: nothing!**

 **Stingerette1975, Yeah poor Dean, even when I'm kind to him I'm actually mean! Still, it's kinder than I have been to him in other stories (and will be in the rest of this, you have been warned!)**

 **Irishfan62, The prospect of awkward teen Dean being in love was too cute not to do! Not giving anything away about the mystery guy just yet, but after this one we go heavy on answers!**

 **Brother fluff coming your way...**

* * *

 **Three.**

"Uce, you've been in love right?"

Dean sets out the question one evening when the pair of them are sat playing video games in the lounge, the remains of a meat lover's pizza sat between them and the smell of melted cheese hanging thick in the air.

It's two days after the meal with their parents and therefore two days since he'd seen the choppy haired girl and by rights he figures that's long enough to have forgotten –

Except he hasn't.

All he can think about is her.

She comes to him in the weirdest of moments, like in the middle of the night or when he's mopping the gym floor and each time she does he feels breathless and light-headed and something else decidedly _less_ chaste than that.

In a general sense he's always liked women and carries himself with a sort of playboy approach, by no means afraid to talk to or flirt with them but usually honing in on those he knows he can't have. Like Sasha for example, who could kick his ass easily and is feisty which attracts him since she can take care of herself. There were girls in high school too he would have dated but who had all but ignored him on the few occasions he was there or else made him feel like he was not _so_ desirable by looking down their noses or laughing at his hair. Which is probably another reason he tends to go for woman that he knows he has no chance with since he doesn't ever build up his hopes and can instead maintain a sort of cavalier indifference that maybe isn't real.

The choppy blonde is _different_ though.

He isn't sure why since he doesn't even know her and has seen her for a grand total of three minutes and no more, but there is something about her and her general demeanour that just makes him feel like they may be a match and that she might be a perfect fit for his weirdness –

Which confuses him completely because he doesn't know why that is.

He sits on it quietly through the Saturday and Sunday but it bubbles inside of him and he can't make it go away, which is why he finally puts the mess into word-form and to the one man that he thinks and hopes might understand.

Roman blinks across at him, surprised but steady and he nods his head slowly in response,

"Uh huh, I have."

"So you know what it feels like?"

"I know what _I_ felt like."

"Which was what?"

The question is followed by a pause of thoughtful silence and then Roman stops the game in a way that makes Dean wince, because it means that the older man is going to be serious and in his semi-confused state Dean isn't sure that's what he wants. Luckily however, since it's _Roman_ the answer turns out to be almost exactly right and delivered with such tones of total non-judgement that it eases the awkwardness almost at once,

"It felt like being part of something bigger, almost like figuring out what makes you whole. You get to have someone who knows everything about you and gets to share every little part of you as well. Dreams, hopes, you kind of blend those things together and become a single person."

"You liked it?"

"I did."

Dean licks his lips and then drops his gaze downwards because he realizes they are treading on very personal ground and although his older brother has never held back from him and has opened his life and his family fully up, there are still things they haven't really talked about in detail and his big time college break up is without doubt one of those. Still, at the same time Roman isn't clamming up on him which surely he _would_ do if he didn't want to talk and so the teenager swallows and starts worrying at a hangnail, trying not to sound eager,

"So, what happened?"

Roman grunts.

For a second Dean assumes that the noise is an annoyed one and so quickly his uncertain blue orbs snap up only to find Roman staring out through the window and wearing a sort of wry looking smirk,

"I found out about it."

Dean frowns,

"About what uce?"

"My girlfriend cheating after I asked her to marry me, found her in bed with my former best friend."

His big brown eyes swing round swiftly and fix the gaping teen with a look that's hard to describe, as if Roman has been through every single emotion and landed up somewhere just north of resigned. Either way though, he isn't angry at the questioning and so Dean feels free to react out loud, blinking in astonishment and goldfishing a little before hissing across the silence almost shrilly,

"For _real_?"

He feels outraged and wildly offended because who could betray his brother like that? Roman is literally the greatest person living so anyone willing forgo all that friendship and stab him the back would have to be mad, not to mention in possession of a death wish since Dean feels a hot vengeance starting to build.

Roman snorts at him, seemingly sensing it and smiles a little,

"Uh huh, for real."

Dean spits a word out,

"Asshole."

Roman chuckles,

"Yep, that was pretty much my reaction as well, after trying to punch him in the face that is."

"Please tell me you got him?"

"Pretty sure I broke his nose."

Dean nods back and frowns just a little because it's what he wants to hear and what the bastard deserves, plus he likes the fact that his brother got retribution because it's still more than he himself has ever got.

"Good."

In the brief pause that follows Roman restarts the racing game and the sound of roaring engine noise quickly fills the room. At some point Dean has damaged his car so badly that the system has forced him to retire from the game and so he grabs up another slightly cold slice of pizza and begins to chew on it as he watches Roman race.

Outside the windows the lights from the city glint against the darkness as pin pricked orange orbs and make everything feel hushed and totally easy and above all make Dean feel sleepy and safe. Nine months earlier he'd spent nearly every night time hunkered down in his room while his father kicked the door or tried whoop his ass for something and nothing or a million other things he hadn't actually done. In many ways that part of his miserable existence feels like nothing more than a really bad dream and it's like he's always lived safely with Roman and been a part of the Reigns' and their never ending love.

Chomping away on his pizza he folds back again and lets the couch cushions pillow his weight, the ease of his surrounding tugging on his eyelids in total contentment –

Then Roman clears his throat,

"So, is there a reason you're asking?"

"Huh?"

"About love? Is there something else you maybe want to know?"

Dean flushes hotly,

"Uh, no."

"You sure uce, you know I'll answer right?"

He nods haltingly,

"Yeah, I know."

Roman pauses to slalom another racing car and clips the barriers causing a dent and allowing several competitors to flash past him although for once he doesn't appear to much all that mind,

"Is this about the pretty girl you saw last week?"

Dean tenses in an instant,

"I uh – I – _no_ , well, I mean _maybe_."

He makes an utter hash of the answer and then wishes a lightning bolt would strike him down dead and spare him the embarrassment of fumbling through it because he's simply never really done this type of stuff before. Sharing his feelings or having any worth saying is still all shiny and ridiculously new and he isn't quite sure that people want to hear him, although Roman smiles fondly,

"You should talk to her uce."

Dean shakes his head and then snorts,

"No way bro, as if someone like that would ever want to talk to _me_."

"Why not?"

Roman asks it with a frown of confusion like it doesn't make sense that the teen would think that way, to which Dean rolls his eyes like it's painfully obvious and waves his hands around to indicate himself, flapping the leftover pizza slice so violently that a circle of pepperoni slides off onto his lap,

"Because dude, look at me, m' just some no hope street kid."

Roman barks back at him,

"Hey, don't talk like that."

"Why not? It's true."

"No it isn't."

"C' mon Roman – ,"

But the older man is all done talking it out and swiftly pauses the gameplay for the second time to spin around on the couch and look his brother in the face, hoping that the stare down alone will convince him since the words aren't working,

"You're not nothing, okay?"

Dean huffs a sigh out and lets the pizza slice fall down again, aiming it skilfully back into the box. He shrugs a little like it isn't a big deal to him although the sentence sounds harsh,

"Can't change what I am."

"Who says I want to?" Roman reaches across the distance and gently cups the teenager's head, dragging it closer and then down against his breastbone, grounding him there, "You're my kick ass little bro."

They stay there for a moment sort of contemplating matters before Dean shifts slightly and Roman lets him back up, dragging his fingers through the ever scruffy mop top and watching the wavy bangs slowly flap back, giving the kid a sort of freshly-out-of-bed look that makes the older man snort.

 _Little bro._

"What do I say?"

"Huh?"

"To the girl," Dean stresses, gnawing on his hangnail, "Like, what sorta stuff am I even meant to say?"

Roman sits back against the cushions and blows a breath out, feeling the mood sort of settle and wind down and in response he grabs up a cold slice of pizza and takes a bite confidently,

"We'll think of something, okay?"

There is a very slight pause and then Dean slouches slightly, but nods like he trusts the older man will steer him right, because that's what he does and _will_ always do for him and which is also why they will come up with the perfect first line.

Roman clears his throat and hands Dean the controller,

"She won't know what's hit her. Now come on, win me this race."

* * *

 **Next chapter we find out who the guy watching Dean is and whether his intentions are good or bad...**


	4. Four

**Right then my patient people, no more mystery now (well, okay, maybe a little bit) but what is happening in this story should become clearer from this point on...sort of...a little...maybe?**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Well in that case thank goodness nobody's perfect. It takes the pressure off idiots like me! As for drama?! Who loves drama more than I do? (See ahead for big ass examples!)**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Aww thank you, glad you're here for this sequel and I really hope you like it as much as the first one *crosses all fingers and toes hopefully***

 **Mandy, I think I might be making Dean even more adorable in this one than last time. I'll have to get your thoughts on that at the end. Teen Dean is my cutest creation I think, maybe?**

 **Sodapop25, I promise I will and there's quite a lot of it still to come too, it's all written up but it's taking time to edit and root out the mistakes (bet I still miss loads though, sorry!)**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Yeah he is! Dean with a crush is such a fun/awkward thing to write! Unfortunately though (because I'm mean) he gets a bit distracted with something else from this point on.**

 **Minnie1015, Aww, thank you for picking that up, I didn't even register writing the controller bit until you pointed it out. It was something my dad used to do with me (I was crap at video games!)**

 **Skovko, Don't blame Dean for being socially awkward. I've given him a pretty messed up life after all (whoops). But yes, petting the dog is always a good opening, cute doggy baby talk optional too!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, You know, I kinda pictured Seth as the backstabbing friend too. But maybe that's a story for another day? I certainly ran out of room to go into it further. Trilogy anyone? (Joking!)**

 **Hope you like...**

* * *

 **Four.**

They spend the next few days brainstorming options and drawing up lists of what they think the girl might like, which comprises dogs, ripped clothing and mustangs but epically tragically precious little else. In fact Dean feels like the whole thing is pointless and that there's no damn point setting himself up for a fail, although Roman insists on keep discussing it anyway.

 _Just in case_ he says.

But then it all goes to hell.

Not Dean's love life as such – he doesn't have one – but things in general suddenly _shift_ , which happens on the Wednesday afternoon after lunchtime and comes completely out of nowhere.

Dean is at work, busy setting out the floor mats for an early evening yoga class they're going to have coming through and making sure each rectangle is spaced out and straight enough and that the water cooler works and is properly chilled. He's working the floor on his own because it's empty and there's still another hour before the clients will arrive, Roman is stashed away in the office dealing with bills like he usually is and the rest of the staff are busy on the gym floor providing personal training.

There is no one around.

Not that he minds the solitude occasionally and in many respects it's actually kind of nice. He's got the radio on in the background spitting tunes out and although they're death metal he's kind of singing along. The weird thing is that he actually feels _settled_ , which has been a slowly growing feeling over the weeks, like his life is finally exactly where he wants it and there is nothing and nobody holding him back. He even starts dancing a little as he wanders, checking the set up then nodding his head.

The room is good to go and so he turns towards the doorway –

Where the man from the car is standing staring at him.

 _Huh_?

The guy is large but not in terms of muscle and instead he is carrying a pretty hefty weight of flab. His blonde hair is floppy and almost youthful looking but is offset by a scrubby and grey-flecked red beard with eyes which sit so deep beneath thick eyelids that it's sort of a wonder that the man can see out. Although clearly he can because he steps a little closer and Dean can feel the gaze narrow swiftly his way, which makes his heart pound hard in his ribcage because he straight up doesn't like it.

"You must be Dean?"

The question sort of catches him off-guard a bit and in response the teenager draws his brows in, caught between total and utter bewilderment and wanting to make a break and just get away.

He isn't really sure why exactly he feels like that, but mostly puts it down to some inbuilt alarm, honed from years of having lived with his father and a lifetime of being surrounded by insalubrious other men. The guy in front of him might be a stranger and there's still a good chance he doesn't mean any harm, but every single part of the kid is screaming anyway and he can't fight the feeling that the dude is _all_ wrong.

He stiffens on instinct,

"Depends on who's askin'."

The guy smirks a little but doesn't really respond, instead stepping his size thirteens even closer which in the process effectively blocks off the door. Dean swallows nervously, feeling wildly cornered and the wealth of jumbled feelings take him back several months and make him feel briefly like he is stood in his house again and facing down a beating with no way to get out.

Nor does the newcomer's grumble much help things,

"Got someone who wants to see you."

 _Shit_.

A stone hits Dean's gut and his entire skinny form seems to shiver then seize up on him because there's only one person he can think of in that moment and only one person who would send a bulky heavy right into the gym to carry out his dirty work –

Except for the fact that it _can't_ be his father because the asshole is currently rotting in jail, in the first few weeks of a sixteen year sentence for kidnapping and abuse and being an asshole of an asshole in the general sense. How in the world would his old man have manufactured it and why would he want to see him at all? His father had spent the entire trial shouting and cussing him out, so what _now_ he feels remorse?

Dean's frantic heart is pulsing in almost double-time and his brain is sort of spinningwhich briefly throws him off and in the swirl of confusion he misses the guy step in again and so jolts when he looks up and sees they're almost face to face,

"Come on kid, this will be a nice surprise for you."

He reaches out a hand and Dean swiftly backs up, raising his hands high in front of his breastbone and taking them from reach,

"Don't touch me," he spits out and although he means it to sound like a warning, it comes out about an octave more shrill than he would like.

The guy smiles a little,

"Hey, I wasn't trying to hurt you."

But there's something in his eyes which says that is bull, besides which his actions to that point have _not_ been settling and he's still a damn stranger.

"Don't touch me," Dean repeats, only this time he moves his hands into clenched boxing fists and holds them out like he is ready to scrap, which makes the chunky newcomer pause momentarily then chuckle in derision and shake his big head,

"Geez kid, you got a temper just like her."

The words make Dean falter and he frowns just a little,

"Like who?"

Frankly the whole thing is fucking confusing and he can't make head nor tail of it at all, which is possibly why the thickset guy moves even closer and makes Dean skitter back until he bangs against the wall.

 _Crap_.

"Come on kid, I ain't got all day here."

He stretches a chivvying hand out again and whether to direct or else to grab at him, Dean doesn't know and he doesn't really care, which is why he flashes a fist out in response to it and thumps it into the guy's bulging midriff.

" _No_."

Despite it not being a powerful action, the surprise of it alone makes the newcomer grunt and blow a breath out like he's considering what happened and coming up empty,

"You fucking _hit_ me?"

Or maybe not.

In response Dean keeps his fists held in front of him, but at the same time he kind of wishes he hadn't jabbed out, since in real terms it has only made the tubster _more_ heated and added a sharp glint over his vision as well.

Dean licks his lips,

"I – I said don't touch me."

"You're gonna regret having done that kid."

Nor does Dean particularly doubt him but he's ready to fight back if that's how it goes down and what's more he has about six months of weekly boxing training tucked under his belt, which he hadn't before. Okay, it isn't much but he knows how to punch now and block a moderately slowly thrown right hand which might be enough to keep the worst blows from marking and could even allow him to weave out and escape.

Luckily however, it doesn't come down to that, because another voice promptly drifts in through the doors and is so damn good that it makes Dean's heart broaden and the blood in his veins run warm.

 _Roman_.

"Uce? You nearly done here? Told mom we'd be early so we could help – ,"

He rounds the corner and then shuts up at once, silently drinking in the tense scene laid in front of him and trying to work it out, although good luck to him on _that_. His brown eyes flicker in the direction of the bulky guy, who has seemingly forced Dean right up against the wall and made the teenager throw defensive hands up.

Roman's voice is a furious rumble of a sound,

" _You_."

For a second Dean is sort of confused by the reaction, because how in the world does Roman know the dude? But the bewilderment then fades away pretty quickly as his protective older brother starts to surge across the room.

In response to the rapidly approaching Samoan – whose gym branded threads show off his muscle bound arms – the stranger skitters off away from Dean smartly and the teen stumbles forward and is promptly swept up, with Roman grabbing him and pulling him closer on the cusp of an eruption,

"Did he hurt you?"

"Uh, no."

"You sure?"

His big brother obviously isn't buying it and Dean doubts that his own addled dizziness helps and so drawing in a breath he nods more convincingly and his blue eyes meet brown ones,

"I – I'm alright."

After seemingly giving him a silent once over in the sort of appraisal that the Reigns' do so well, Roman lets a grunt out and then pushes Dean behind him before turning towards the newcomer,

"What the hell do you want and why have you been watching my brother for the last week?"

Dean blinks,

"Huh?"

But he is roundly ignored and instead the chubby stranger puts his hands up like he's innocent and attempts an easy smile,

"It's not what you think, I'm a friend of the family okay?"

"Do you know him?" Roman keeps his eyes locked but asks the question of Dean, who blinks for a second and then shakes his head firmly because he's never seen the guy besides which his family don't do friends.

"Nope."

Evidently it's the answer that Roman is expecting and seemingly pretty much what he wants to hear as well, since he smirks a little and then steps in closer with his fists clenched tightly,

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

He is probably a second – maybe two being generous – from the punching the guy into the far reaches of outer space and Dean isn't particularly worried about it happening until a click of heels drags his attention away. There is somebody stood in the doorway behind them and her gasp of pure horror rips loudly around the room, bouncing off the white painted walls and yoga mats as she follows it up by screeching,

" _Get away from him._ "

Together they all turn around in confusion and their gazes fall on a green-eyed red haired form, who once upon a time had probably been beautiful but who looks haggard and pallid and way too thin. In fact Roman is about to send her off sharply and continue with his beatdown when Dean breathes out a word and in the process changes their world and their future –

At least in the short term anyway.

"Mom?"

* * *

 **Soooooo….thoughts?**


	5. Five

**Back online, yay! Okay, so the mom fallout continues in this chapter. Also, for anyone wondering and who followed the last story, my own mother is currently undergoing chemotherapy and is now halfway through. It's still tough, but we're getting there and as always, your lovely reviews help keep me smiling, so thank you to everyone who takes the time to leave me a line or two! *Big hugs all round***

 **Mandy, Since I made everyone wait for the action last time, thought I would just dive right in with this one and hit in with all the drama fast! So glad you love teen Dean like I do!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Yep, Mommy dearest here just to keep the parental roundabout going! Maybe she just wants to reconnect with her child? Or maybe she's up to no good, or someone else is…**

 **Skovko, No, no, this time I thought it would be a nice little mother-son bonding fic. I can do those too...okay, maybe not, maybe there is huge drama ahead. Yeah, that sounds more like me!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Aww, thank you, hope you like this chapter. Picks up right from where the last one left off so you'll get a few more answers here.**

 **SkittlezLvr79, So, you don't trust Dean's old mother, huh? You know me so well! Hopefully the picture gets a little clearer in this one, or maybe not...no, probably not!**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Haha, don't let your mind overload just yet, we've still got a way to go with this thing. But yeah, trainwreck might be a way to describe it. Mama Reigns is back next chapter!**

 **Minnie1015, Thought I'd throw his mother in there to switch things up a bit. I know I got asshole fatigue from his old man, so time to get the woman who gave birth to him back into the fray!**

 **Irishfan62, Should be fun indeed! More answers about the guy and what his mother wants coming up, but not revealing everything yet, because, you know, I need you guys to keep on coming back!**

 **HannonsPen, Not that I want to give too much away (it isn't really) but Mama Reigns really comes into her own in this story. On the plus side, I don't think Dean has many family members left!**

 **Diving straight back in then...**

* * *

 **Five.**

Dean's words echo in off the walls around them and then sort of _hang_ like clouds in the air above, making the woman in front of them falter but then offer a thin smile up,

"How've you been son?"

Her voice is cautious and her gaze is furtive as it bounces between the teenager and chubby stranger she clearly knows. It's almost as if she's looking for permission and it fills Roman up with a measure of unease, although Dean merely gapes and shakes his head a little like he's just seen a ghost.

Which in essence, he has.

"Mom," he repeats only this time it's not a question and is instead a sort of statement of bafflement, "Is – is that you?"

The woman wobbles very vaguely on some heeled shoes and it occurs to Roman that she might be slightly drunk, although relatively speaking a couple of quick ones are probably a prerequisite for meeting up with long lost sons. Or well, not _lost_ so much as abandoned because Dean wasn't the one that had gone missing. She had. She was the one that had taken off and left him with a man who had used him as a relentless punching bag and who had then abducted the poor kid at knifepoint before trussing him up with duct tape and driving him off.

 _Damn_.

Roman's twitchy fists clench just thinking about it and the nightmares and everythingDean has had to endure. All of which can essentially be traced back to the mother who had packed up and left him without so much as a word.

The redhead nods and as her face catches the lighting, Roman can see how much the green eyes have sunk and begins to wonder if she's been doing drugs at some point or whether maybe that was just how her face has always looked. Absently he casts his mind back to Dean's photos, the few of which he owns are gathered in a book and which the teenager had tentatively shown to him a while back, pointing out places and faces and dates. His mother had been standing with his father in a few of them and Roman had made of note of her features at a glance, but the woman in front of him seems so like a shadow or a less-than-stellar clone that he isn't really sure.

Neither is Dean.

Which fast becomes apparent as the woman steps towards them and then lifts up her hand as if to card through his hair or something but is met instead with the kid shifting backwards and closer to Roman.

She falters,

"You – you've grown it out."

Roman assumes she's referring to the tangle that comprises the teenager's copper blonde locks but if she's trying to find some common ground for them to start on then it's a total misfire because Dean shakes his head. His cheeks are flushed with a weird sort of anger mixed in with bafflement or the sense of being lost. Roman can only guess at what his brother is thinking –

What is the kid even damn well meant to say?

In the end however, he settles on something and spits it out in a sullen mumble across the space and Roman can feel him sort of vibrating although he's trying to stay even,

"What do you want?"

"I – ,"

In response to it his mother sort of flinches like she hasn't even remotely been expecting the harsh words, or like maybe they've flown across the distance and hit her physically which the teenager possibly wishes they had. All at once the woman looks confused and pathetic as if she isn't too sure what she's supposed to do next and her eyes slide across to a spot just behind them whereupon the staring stranger-come-stalker strides past. He crosses the space and then draws in beside her, ostensibly pulling her in consolation towards his chest, only the woman in question isn't crying or emotional and his grip on her spine seems just a fraction too tight.

He licks cracked lips,

"She wants to know her son again, right honey?"

He jogs her and the red haired woman rapidly nods, pawing back a tangle of auburn from her eyeline and evidently eager to back her man up,

"That – that's right, I saw you in the paper, couldn't believe it – I mean – you looked so grown up."

Roman isn't sure which article she's referring too since over the months they've done a whole bunch, but he curses himself anyway for letting it happen because through trying to get some free exposure for the business he's inadvertently opened Dean up. Made him an easy target for anyone from his background who wants to sniff around or revisit old debts. It doesn't even matter that Dean _wanted_ to do the interviews and had grinned for the cameras and liked being a local star and nor does it matter that the media washis suggestion.

What matters is the danger –

Now here they all are.

Dean's mother smiles in a wobbly sort of fashion and it instantly highlights lipstick smudged across her teeth. Which isn't surprising since the woman is still trembling and potentially does perpetually,but hardly adds to her look.

Roman's brows narrow.

Is she strung out? Either way it doesn't stop her from forging on, which she does with a tiny little hiccup of bewilderment and a nudge from the bulky guy,

"I thought we could – ,"

" _No_."

Dean's shout momentarily startles all three of them in terms of both its volume and general vehement tone, which is possibly more enraged that Roman thinks he's heard it and is delivered with clenched fists and a healthy looking glower.

The woman frowns,

"But – but I'm your mother."

Dean shakes his head firmly,

"I'm emancipated now."

It's a word that some six months back the kid hadn't heard of but had certainly managed to get to grips with pretty fast and thanks to some serious lessons in child law they had almost become leading authorities on it all. Dean's mother however is very much the opposite as her drawn-in red brows and narrowed eyes clearly show and since Dean seems unwilling to flesh things out further, Roman clears his throat and elucidates a little more,

"The family courts severed all parental ties in a hearing last year."

She gapes,

"I – I didn't agree to that."

Although even as she's saying it her gaze is sort of wandering, as if she can't remember and which means she's definitely strung out, or at least _has_ been for enough of a timeframe that she could potentially have signed paperwork and sent it back without a clue and which is frankly about as tragic as it is damn frustrating because Dean deserves better – so muchbetter – than this. Evidently he knows it too, which is why he snaps back at her, his fists still curled tightly.

"I didn't know where you were, didn't even know if you were even _alive_ still, so how could I ask you?"

He's calling her out and in reply she swallows and her lips almost wobble which might be a put-on but equally might not, or else could be caused by her chunky – what – _boyfriend_ who is holding her tightly and near pinching her skin. She goes to reply but Dean swiftly interrupts her and even steps forward with a growing sense of self that makes Roman smirk in return just a little with a wave of encouragement.

 _You go uce, you go_.

"You haven't been my mother for six damn years now, so you don't get a say in what I can or can't do. I have a family anyway – a real one – with a mom who loves me. I don't need you."

The last few words are damn near spat out and once again make the fragile woman quake, although they have the opposite effect on her partner who surges forwards angrily with a finger outstretched,

"Don't you talk like that to your mother _kid_."

Dean falters and then almost instantly skitters back a step, because in terms of sheer anger and outright aggression the guy is not totally different from his old man and memories of the abuse clearly flood through his brainstem and sap the fight out of him.

Roman swiftly moves in.

Within the space of a second he has gathered Dean towards him, pulling him backwards and up against his chest, winding a broad arm protectively across his breastbone and giving him solidity,

"Don't talk to _him_ like that."

It isn't so much a warning as an order and delivered in the unmistakeably ready-to-rumble tones of a man who is both taller and more muscled than the bulky and downright scowling asshole he is menacingly staring down.

"Jerry, don't – ,"

In the ever growing tension, Dean's mother reaches forward and clumsily tries to grab the man's arm, murmuring his name as she pulls him backwards and simply being shaken off roughly in return.

Roman snarls,

"Who are you anyway?"

"I'm her partner."

"The one she abandoned her son for?"

Roman doesn't mean it to come out so brutal but it does and in the scheme of things, he's not sorry for that, besides which the thing needs saying by someone and since Dean is _his_ family he has every right to ask. In reply the redhead blinks up looking startled and then shakes her head,

"N-no."

Dean goldfishes,

"It's someone _else_?"

Clearly he had been working on the basic assumption that the guy stood before them was the one who'd grabbed her heart and therefore the reason that the years of his childhood had been filled with such raw torment –

But it's not him at all.

In a weird way Roman figures that Dean might prefer it his mother had stayed with the original man, because at least it would somehow have made her choices seem valid in terms of true love, although precious little else. The fact therefore that she's moved onto the _next_ one or potentially even several more guys after that, suddenly makes all the torture seem pointless since no one has gained from it.

No one at all.

Roman knows that it's what the kid is thinking because these days he almost knows him better than himself and it's also why he tightens his grip just a little and murmurs into the curls as Dean starts to heavy breathe,

"Easy uce, easy, I'm right here."

His mother bites her lip and steps forwards nervously,

"Dean – ,"

But the answer that comes out of the teenager is bitter and thick with emotion and intent.

"Get out."

He isn't playing but then his mother doesn't know that because evidently she doesn't know _him_ anymore and so instead she sort of snickers a little in a measure of surprise,

"You – you don't mean that."

Dean repeats himself,

"Get out, I don't want you here – I don't want you here – I don't _need_ you anymore."

In reality the passionate shout is slightly lessened by the fact that the teenager is almost in tears, although Roman doesn't begrudge them for even a second because how else is the poor kid supposed to react when facing down one of the two people in existence who should have loved most but had just screwed him up?

"Listen kid – ,"

So-called _Jerry_ steps forward with a vaguely worried frown painted over his brow and Roman doesn't like it because he plain doesn't trust it and he flat outdoes not want it around Dean anymore. Besides which, the teenager has said what he wanted and there's no way in hell Roman will let them break him down or witness Dean crying or showing any weakness, so he also steps forward which stops them both.

"You heard him, I think that the two of you should leave now."

"We're not going anywhere."

Jerry seems keen to stand his ground and clearly not able to handle the building tension or perhaps their mere presence, Dean quickly peels off and takes himself to stand quietly in the corner with his back to them all.

His mother catches her partner's hand,

"Jerry, come on, we – we can try again another time, give him time to think about all this."

Surprisingly it works although the big lug still glowers and shoots Roman a death glare that doesn't hit the mark since the gym owner is throwing an even worse one right back at him, that he keeps locked in place until the pair of them reach the door.

Truth is strolling in with a whistle to check on progress, but he stops pretty short on getting a taste of the mood and his eyes bounce curiously towards the newcomers and then the teenager who even from the back view looks pretty broken down.

It's a fact of the gym and the people that work in it that Dean is their buddy and they will defend him to the death, so the sight of him clearly struggling with something is at once almost more than the dreadlocked man can bare. His eyes slide over to Dean's mother and her partner and then towards his boss as if gleaning the facts and Roman nods a little and then gestures towards them,

"Truth, can you escort these two outside?"

The older man blinks for a second then answers with a bite to his tone,

"Sure thing man."

Roman stands in place until the three are gone completely and then blows a breath out and quickly turns back round again, fighting down a wave of emotion and downright anger which he knows won't help but which sorely wants to bleed out and hulk up on the people that have interrupted their peacefulness. Crossing the room he moves to where Dean is and drags the boy back into a hug, turning him so that the hot red-cheeked features are pressed against him as he tousles the hair,

"Uce, you okay?"

The reply is husky,

"Everythin' was perfect, she's ruined it all."

"She hasn't ruined anything brother."

But the teenager is adamant and he mutters sadly back with a sentence that damn near breaks his heart open and scatters it to the wind,

"Not yet, but she will."

* * *

 **Yep, so the stalker guy isn't a wrestler, but he's a bad dude all the same! Next chapter, we get to hear what the assorted Reigns family thinks. Mama Reigns anyone?!**


	6. Six

**Time to figure out how the Reigns family are feeling about the sudden return of Dean's absent mom. Safe to say they all have different opinions but one woman in particular is especially awesome!**

 **Sodapop25, Aww, thank you for your prayers. Writing these stories and reading the reviews gets me through so as ever I'm super grateful you enjoy them and take the trouble to let me know that.**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Yep, you're right, Mama Ambrose is hanging on for a bit longer yet. Figure that Dean needed to stand up for himself, he doesn't want to be pushed around by his parents again.**

 **Minnie1015, I'll let you hug him. Here, I give teen Dean to you exclusively for hugs, as long as you return him by the time of the next chapter. His mom wants money huh? Not saying a word…yet.**

 **Mandy, Thank you, cancer sucks but it does bring out people's supportive sides, people have been lovely. Dean being brave is a big deal for him, but protective bro Roman will always be my thing!**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Maybe both? No, actually I either write really long chapter stories or these littler ones. No in betweens! Shorter chapters mean more of them though, so I guess that's good?!**

 **Skovko, Hmmm, very shrewd...but naturally I can neither confirm or deny allegations pertaining to Dean's mother being short on money *looks around for lawyer***

 **HannonsPen, Yep, his mom is as shady as they come right now and her boyfriend doesn't help. Dean would have been happy with no contact ever! Good news, here comes Mama Reigns!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Thank you, glad you're still with me on this mad little journey. Hope you enjoy reading what Roman's family think (obvious spoiler: there are decidedly not amused!)**

 **SkittlezLvr79, You so have a total handle on Mama Reigns! It's like you go round and have tea with her once a week or something (you don't do you?!) Dean's mom has trouble written all over her!**

 **Rebel8954, Benefit of the doubt is never a bad thing and you're not alone on that (see ahead). As for Mama Reigns going Mama Bear? I think you'll get something like that before this story ends!**

 **Raze Olympus, Don't worry, Roman's big brother, protective, worrying, angry side definitely gets to take a turn in this story, but he's not the only one unleashes...just saying…*whistles casually***

 **FreakinLunaticsYard, Sorry (but not too sorry) that I've got you all conflicted! Dean is in for a rollercoaster here and so is everybody else (because I'm a meanie). Not let up on the drama yet!**

 **Family dinner time...**

* * *

 **Six.**

Roman suggests that they skip the Wednesday dinner where all of his sisters will be in tow and no doubt where they will all have varied opinions as to what has just happened.

Which probably won't help.

But Dean is reluctant to switch up their schedule since in a weird way it means that his mom will have won, besides which he wants to be surrounded by the Reigns' and their crazy overbearing love. Which is probably just as well. Because the moment the story is related to them fully when dessert has been finished and the children packed off, everyone is instantly loud and outspoken with anger and suspicion being the order of the day.

"You're telling me she just swept back in there and tried to pick up where her ass had left off?"

"Six years _– six years_ without being a mother."

"God damn woman will be meeting my foot."

The bile is courtesy of the family's three sisters and although its vaguely dizzying it's warming as well, because without an exception they are all pumped up _for him_ and expressing the emotions that he's too dazed to think.

Papa Reigns sits at the head of the table and calmly strokes in rhythmic patterns at his beard, which is a sure fire sign that the patriarch is thinking and turning the cogs while his daughters plan revenge. The likelihood is that he'll come up with a solution that involves some more paperwork or his suited lawyer fleet and which Dean doesn't think is going to work on this go round because it isn't legal power over his life that his mother wants. Instead she wants to recapture a relationship which frankly Dean isn't really sure they ever _had_ and though once he would have seen her as the best one of his parents she had then packed her case and never looked back.

Then there's heaven sent Mama Reigns to think about –

His new mother and the woman that he chooses to call _mom_ , the woman who has given him so much validation and unquestioning love that he could never pay her back but who expects nothing more in return for her devotion than him happy and healthy and smiling and himself. Whatever affection he'd once had for his birth mom has been totally eclipsed by having the Reigns' in his life and by getting to see what a proper mother can be.

In short, he has a mom.

He doesn't need the first one now.

Naturally of course she had known something was wrong with him – with _both_ of her sons – as they had walked through the door, but had sat in relative silence throughout the evening, smiling at him sporadically but not offering any thoughts.

Honestly it kind of worries Dean a little because what if everything has offended her somehow? What if his real mother being back makes things different, which it shouldn't do because Mama Reigns _is_ his real mom –

Crap.

Snorting a breath out as the chatter swirls around him, he drops his head in lower to his plate and lets his blue eyes flicker across the cake crumbs with absent-minded misery.

A hand strokes his head,

"Baby, are you alright?"

Mama Reigns has come around to him and is standing right in alongside his chair, clearly itching to comfort him fully but in the weird situation not too sure what might help.

 _Baby_.

Dean loves when she uses that nickname since it hints at something maternal and deep and so to make it a little easier to know how to soothe him, he leans over sideways and drops his head against her chest.

"It's alright son."

Her arms fold around him and pull him in closer while running fingers through his hair and she alternates gently between shushing and rocking him like he really _is_ a baby.

Dean doesn't mind it one bit.

As Roman's broad hand snakes over from beside him and claps against his shoulder to provide extra warmth, Papa Reigns blows a reluctant sounding breath out and makes a steeple of his fingers.

"Well, what do you want?"

"Huh?"

Somehow Dean hasn't really been expecting to be asked at any point how _he_ feels about the whole thing, simply because his entire life to that point has been things just happening without him able to have his say and which is why he figures his mother's appearance will be another damn mess that he cannot control and that will rip apart the safe world he now lives in and loves so very, very much.

She can't take that away.

In the contemplative silence that falls across the table, Papa Reigns clears his throat a second time then levels the question with a slight shift of phrasing that he hopes will makes things clearer,

"Do you want to see her, son?"

Dean shakes his head,

"No."

It's the one thing he's sure of because he knows in his heart it would be too much of a trial, besides which he's still too god damn angry –

She left him in that house.

The abuse is all her fault.

Or okay, so maybe not her fault entirely since the blame lies with the father who liked to beat him up, but she still holds a big old weight of liability because where the hell was she when he had needed her the most?

Roman draws a breath in,

"Are you sure about that brother?"

"She left me," Dean replies and the hug becomes more tight, as if Mama Reigns can physically tuck him beneath her ribcage and keep him safe there for the rest of his life.

"I know uce, I know."

Roman's fingers dig in deeper and anchor him to the world but it isn't enough.

For six years he had been made to live without a mother and worse than that, each day he had been told it was _his_ fault – had been told that he was too troublesome to live with, was a bad kid, a bad son, an actual curse – which means that every time he even thinks of his mother, the memories are inexorably linked to that hurt. There's no way the torment of his life can be undone now. It's over and Dean is _not_ going back, which is what he fears his mother turning up will mean for him. If not in a physical then at least a mental sense.

From the head of the table, Papa Reigns blows a breath out and shifts his bulk a little in his chair. It makes the wooden slats at his back creak unhappily but it also draws the teenager's teary eyed stare. The family patriarch is looking straight at him with concern but also severity in his gaze, which matches the form of his sentence exactly,

"Son, do you want me to make her go away?"

"Um, what?"

Dean blinks in confusion, aware that it sounds just a little like a threat, which in his old neighborhood would have meant murdering someone but which he's pretty damn sure is not his new father's intent. Then again though he _is_ a very rich man, so paying an assassin wouldn't be a financial stretch, whereupon his head starts spinning with ninjas until Roman speaks up,

"Pay her off you mean?"

 _Oh_.

Papa Reigns nods in response but keeps his eyes locked, as if waiting for the teenager to tell him yes or no, which frankly throws Dean for a loop almost entirely because he isn't sure what to say to it.

Would it even work?

He's sure that in business throwing money at people is a pretty good way of getting a job done, but where he's from it only makes things kind of messy, besides which it would likely make his mother stop by more _._ Not to mention that it would waste the Reigns' money which Dean in no way wants them to do since they've already given him so much already.

They shouldn't be buying off his relatives too.

Luckily however he is spared having to say that or process it fully by the adored Mama Reigns, who loosens her grip around his head just a little to shake her own fiercely,

"We won't be doing that."

It's pretty much the first time she has had an opinion since they had broken the news in the kitchen an hour before and it's clear that in the interim she's been working on her feelings just waiting for the moment to share them.

This is it.

Papa Reigns frowns in surprise just a little and then shifts again slightly as if to cut her off, evidently believing that he knows what's she thinking and moving to assuage her.

"Ma – ,"

"We're not paying the woman off, for goodness sakes this is her child we're discussing here, it isn't as if she's blackmailing us. All she wants is a chance to be a mother and whether or not she gets that will _not_ be up to us. In the meantime however we are not going to bribe her to stay away like she's some sort of thorn in our sides. This is not a business decision this is _Dean's family_ and we aren't going to rush things. We need to let him decide."

In terms of declarations it's about as impassioned as anyone at the table has heard their mother get, which in turn creates an awed sort of silence that Dean shatters by sniffing,

"But that's just it, I don't know,"

Mama Reigns' hand slides down to cup his cheekbones and tips the bewildered looking blue eyes to meet hers,

"Which is why you need to think on it baby."

"What about you?"

"What about me what?"

Sucking a breath in to counter the spinning that is currently buzzing around in his skull, Dean licks his lips and tries not to look awkward although it's pretty damn impossible with the shit that's going on,

"How will you feel if – ,"

He stops and gets nowhere, although fortunately the older woman knows exactly what is meant and in response tightens up her cashmere clad arms again, drenching him in perfume and more importantly, in love,

"Oh honey, seeing your mother won't change anything, not between us, you're still my baby."

"But _you're_ my mom."

The entire packed table has fallen silent around them but it doesn't really matter since Dean's forgotten they're all there. With the exception of Roman whose presence hovers closely, protective as always and all encompassing.

It's nice.

"I _am_ your mother and you're my child but I think you should do this for your sake, not mine. You've been through so much and you've always come out stronger, but if you brush her off now you'll miss out on something more."

Dean frowns,

"What – what will I miss out on?"

Her answer is simple.

"Closure."

She isn't wrong.

* * *

 **Mama Reigns just being Mama Reigns in this one. Next chapter we have some more Roman big brother stuff and the big guy essentially being all awesome.**

 **See you there!**


	7. Seven

**I can't be the only one really missing Dean and Roman interaction in real life right? Well, I hope I'm not anyway. But in short, it's the reason you get chapters like this! Thanks for your reviews. They're keeping me smiling!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, The push and pulls between Dean's two Mamas was one of the reason I decided to write this story in the first place. I had a yen for Mama Reigns laying claim to her boy. Hopefully that will come out more as we get further in though!**

 **Mandy, Always perfectly happy to make your day! Mama Reigns is the best. She started out as this bit character and wormed her way into my heart! Things have been a bit up and down here this week but you've got to take the rough with the smooth. Thanks for the thoughts!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Mama Reigns should probably have her own agony aunt column in a newspaper all things considered. It seems only right! So you're more of a Daddy Reigns huh? Well, he's a big old teddy bear too...when he's not in big bad businessman/father mode!**

 **Minnie1015, Well, in a family as hot as the Reigns' are there need to be a couple (Roman and Mama Reigns) who can keep cool heads! But yeah, she's pretty cool. She gets a big moment in this story too which she totally deserves! *Hands teen Dean back until next chapter* Hug away!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Aww, thank you so much. I'm never too sure about writing sequels in case I end up ruining the original, but I'm super glad you're enjoying this. Hope that keeps up the further we get into this!**

 **Skovko, Now why do you always assume that Dean is going to get hurt in my stories. That's crazy! That's totally unfair! That's...um...okay I give up. But Mama Reigns can take charge when she has to. I mean, she does have a lot of children after all and Papa Reigns (don't tell him I said that!)**

 **HannonsPen, Yep, leave it to Mama Reigns to be the cool calm head of the bunch. Well, somebody has to be! Good news, here's your very next chapter, so not much impatient waiting for you this time around and a nice bit of brother fluff too (or at least I hope it's nice!)**

 **Here we go again then lovely readers...**

* * *

 **Seven.**

That night the nightmares which have all but stopped happening, come back again although without so much force. Meaning that he doesn't wake up yelling and fighting but does still come around with an actual lurch.

"Wha – ?"

The covers cling close to his chest as he springs up, stuck there by an unappealing layer of sweat and his lungs sort of heave with the shift back to reality as his foggy brain struggles to beat the swirling dream world off. In terms of what he usually pictures when the nightmares hit, it wasn't exactly anything new and had contained the same old visions of his father, beating him mercilessly –

But his mother had been there too.

Standing in the background of the lounge of their old house and staring across blankly as her son had been abused, hit with fists and kicks and then _bottles_ which she hadn't even flinched at.

It wasn't complicated stuff.

Clearly Dean's brain had been trying to process how the woman could have abandoned him like she had. Because surely she must have known what would happen, or at least _suspected_ that her husband might erupt? Which is why her sudden reappearance is so baffling along with her notion of wanting to make things up, as if the two of them had simply had a disagreement that she thinks will be easy to repair.

 _Um, nope_.

With his heart still hammering up against his ribcage, Dean swipes a clammy hand over his face and then pushes the covers right down to his kneecaps before struggling from them, suddenly needing a cool drink.

The first thing he registers on padding from his bedroom is how totally hushed their sprawling city seems to be and also how many shades swim around in the darkness besides the more obvious at-first-glance black. Usually there are beams of light glowing opposite, where another tall apartment block squarely faces theirs, but it must be pretty early because even those are switched off with the exception of a television in one room still being blared. There are tiny little downlights on the floor of their kitchen which Dean uses to navigate a path to the sink and he fills a glass and then downs it in one hit before gasping in relief and topping it up again. Once he has drunk another half a glassful – which likely means he'll have to go pee at some point – his newly adjusted eyes lead him over to the sofa which he folds down onto heavily while puffing a grumble out.

 _Closure_.

Mama Reigns still rings across his headspace and the more he thinks about it the more he thinks she might be right, because while he doesn't want a relationship with his mother there _is_ still stuff that he wants to be able to say and questions that he knows he will regret never asking if he raises the barriers and pushes her away.

 _Did you ever think about me?_

 _Do you wish you could turn the clock back?_

 _Were you ever happy after you left us?_

That sort of stuff.

In fact he's thinking so hard about the prospect that he totally misses Roman framing the door, blinking in bewilderment with his long hair sleep tangled as he frowns in concern,

"You alright there uce?"

Dean jolts a mile in the air and gasps loudly before evidently figuring out it's merely him, whereupon he rolls his eyes and blows a huffy sigh out, like he's just had a heart attack,

"Geez bro, holy _crap_."

Roman grins a little,

"Didn't mean to startle you."

But he's already padding across the distance as he speaks, knowing that there is something clearly bothering his roommate and not groggy enough to _not_ want to know what that thing is. Dropping himself wearily down onto the cushions, he stretches his legs long so that they trail across the floor before swiftly transferring them up onto the table where the cold glass bites them and makes him mildly wince.

Dean watches absently,

"I didn't wake you up right?"

Roman shrugs easily,

"You think way too loud," he intends it as a joke and figures the kid will get it but instead Dean sort of screws his face up and so Roman responds by reaching his hand out and scrubbing at the hair, "You didn't wake me up, I'm good."

Which isn't so much a lie exactly as a strange sort of variation on the truth, because it isn't as if the teen had been noisy, more that his older brother is just naturally attuned from all the long months where Dean would call out for him in the throes of a nightmare.

Now he can't turn it off.

Still, the tousling seems to ease to kid a little since he blows another sigh out but at the same time settles back, almost getting completely absorbed by the cushions as he drops his head down.

"I dreamt about her."

Roman doesn't need to ask who the _her_ is and nor does his brother feel to need to explain and so the older man merely lifts a sluggish eyebrow and tries to sound casual,

"Oh you did, huh?"

"Yeah, she was standin' there watchin' while my dad – ," Dean shrugs briefly before studying his hands, "Well, _you know what_."

Roman certainly does and it still makes him angry although he fights it down bodily and nods.

"Sure do."

"Figure it means m' still angry about it – 'bout her leavin' me there, that make sense?"

"Mmhmm."

Dean sighs and sinks against the couch little further with his gaze on the ceiling like he's thinking it all through, which he would probably being doing on his own all things considered but he seems to like the company and so Roman stays put.

"Keep thinkin' on what our mom said earlier."

"About getting closure?"

Dean nods again,

"Uh huh."

"So does that mean you wanna talk to _your_ mom next time?"

The kid sucks a breath in and frowns,

"Maybe."

In terms of answers it isn't the most convincing and is delivered in tones that show he still doesn't know, but the outright hostility of earlier has vanished and he's warming towards the thought which is a pretty big step.

Roman nods slowly,

"Whatever you want uce, you know that we'll be there as a family behind you, right?"

Dean licks his lips and he hums back mildly but it's clear that his head is still miles away and so Roman sits back and waits for the whirring in the crazy pinball cranium to come to a halt. It does after maybe another few seconds and Dean blinks and finds himself back in the room, his blue eyes sparking with a curious expression which he tips towards his brother,

"What did you think of her friend?"

"Jerry?"

Also known as the overweight asshole who had frightened Dean twice and been damn well _stalking_ him too in what had presumably been reconnaissance of some form to work out where best to pin the kid down and which still makes Roman angry because – had things been more sinister – they wouldn't have known the ambush was coming at all.

Dean nods,

"Uh huh, I – I thought he was the guy uce."

Roman blinks at him,

"The one she left with?"

The teen snorts aloud and the noise is so bitter and weirdly derisive that Roman again reaches over to where he is and drops a hand down onto his tensed up shoulder to knead it in the dark.

It seems to spur Dean on.

"You know, in a weird way I sorta hoped it _was_ him because at least it might have made her leavin' worthwhile. Like she got somethin' out of it – _love_ or whatever – but she's not even with him so what was the point?"

In terms of questions it's pretty damn valid but it's something that Roman doesn't have an answer for. Nobody does except one person in particular and so the bigger man sighs,

"You might have to ask her."

Blue eyes flicker up,

"You think I should do it?"

Evidently he is talking about his birth mom again and whether or not he should take the plunge and meet her if she shows up a second time.

Which maybe she won't.

Because there _is_ a very sort of mild possibility that Dean's hostility has driven her off which Roman can't help but actively root for since it would certainly be the easiest option for them all. Plus it would save poor Dean the added trauma of having to face another cruel parent down and listen to the various reasons they had screwed him when all he had ever wanted from them was their love.

Roman smiles thinly,

"It isn't up to me uce, what matters is what you want."

Dean groans,

"I still don't know."

He drops his head back against the cushions dramatically and in the moment looks like any regular teen, being told that they can't stay out late at a party or have a wild sleepover for twelve of their friends. In short it's what a kid of his age _should_ be like –

Although thank goodness there is nothing much normal about Dean.

"Guess it depends if you wanna ask those questions for the rest of your life or get answers instead?"

Roman's sentence cuts in through the darkness and as his eyes adjust more he vaguely notices the light, the inky blue tones of the shroud-like darkness lifting into something that seems a little more bright. Or at least something mildly bordering on softer which hints at the dawn slowly creeping towards its arc and clearly makes the teenager suddenly sleepy since he yawns,

"So you're saying you think I should though, right?"

Roman blinks,

"What I'm saying is if you _want_ to, I'm there to support you."

Dean grins,

"Thanks man."

"You going back to bed?"

The teenager exhales and then shuts his eyes wearily,

"Think I'll stay here."

* * *

 **Next chapter, Mama Ambrose is back again. How do we think that's going to go? Well or terribly? Cast your votes now!**


	8. Eight

**Mama Ambrose is back then folks and maybe Dean will get some answers this time. Feeling pretty sleep deprived because there's been a** _ **lot**_ **of bouncing back and forth to the hospital in the last couple of days (and wee hours of the night which is always fun) so please forgive any spelling mistakes or things I've missed in the edit.**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, I changed my mind quite a bit about Mama Ambrose as I was writing this story, but as we roll this thing out more, her intentions are totally going to become more clear, especially when we get into all the serious stuff (which is coming!)**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Thank you, it's tough to stay positive at times, but I'm trying to fight my nature and do it anyway (eating cake helps, I've found!) Glad you're still enjoying the story and I hope that you like this chapter too.**

 **Mandy, Thank you for thinking about us, means a lot, especially when things get really tough (this week). As for emotions, yep, Dean has a whole lot of them, but I'm being vaguely kind to him here because he needs to get some things off his chest. I can be nice too!**

 **Minnie1015, Well, Mama Ambrose definitely is a bit of a closed book, but the further we get into this story the more I'm going to unravel her. Safe to say though (because, come on, it's me) they'll be some choppy seas soon enough. I know how you love 'em!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, I won't lie, part of me feels a bit sorry for Mama Ambrose. I mean, not too sorry, but I kind of see her as a bit pathetic. Still, there's still lots more to find out about her and a lot more to come. I love brother Dean/Roman too. Who wouldn't want a supportive Roman as a bro?**

 **Sodapop25, Aww, thank you for your prayers. Been a rough week this week, but every week further we get into her treatment, the sooner we get to the all clear hopefully. Thank you for your reviews as well, glad you're still loving the story.**

 **LHisawesome4ever, You mean Jerry doesn't strike you as an upstanding citizen? Shock horror indeed! I certainly enjoy writing Mama Ambrose though, she's one of those characters where not even I'm sure what she's up to (sort of, because I totally do!)**

 **Skovko, Yeah, those good old nightmares back again. But hey, at least he's not screaming the place down this time so, you know, progress and all that jazz I guess. Can't promise he won't probably be having more by the end though *walks off whistling*...**

 **Enjoy...**

* * *

 **Eight.**

The next day Dean spends pretty much most of the morning expecting his long absent mother to show up and once again throw his careful world into chaos and force him to cover unwelcome old ground. In fact he's _so_ damn ready for her to waltz in out of nowhere that the one thing he's not ready for is her being a no-show –

Because that's what she is as the hours tick past him and deliver him first to late morning then beyond. She simply doesn't show up – even briefly – and it makes the teen wonder if he has managed to scare her off. Honestly though, he's not sure where that leaves him since there's still so damn much that he's eager to say, or maybe even _needs_ to say all things considered and the same word rolls around his bewildered feeling brain.

Closure.

Mama Reigns had been right – as always – in that it's healthier for him to get his grievances out, which is why the thought of his mother _not_ showing makes him weirdly sort of panicky, like he has somehow screwed his chance.

Roman knows it too and keeps his brother busy with a near endless list of menial tasks, but they keep him focussed and by the time they hit the evening Dean feels more resolved. He doesn't need her anyway. Not in terms of love or comfort and before she had arrived he hadn't thought about her in months. She had simply just been another part of his story like the years with his father where he had taken his lumps. She was no longer an active person in his reality.

If she disappeared again, what had changed?

Not a lot.

Which is why he helps Roman with the lock-up feeling brighter, having shooed the last few customers out of the gym and is even back to bouncing on his toes in impatience, wanting to be home getting some gaming time in.

"Come on bro."

The older man chuckles, working the padlock,

"Alright uce, hold on."

On the counter in their kitchen – still in the wrapping – is a brand new video game waiting to be opened up and which based on the reviews is nothing short of astounding and a leap forwards visually and technologically as well. In short it's exactly the sort of thing that he yearns for after a long day working his teenage ass off and the thought of maybe teaming it with pizza or a nice juicy steak is almost driving him mad.

"Ugh, you're so slow I could 'a walked home by now man."

Roman waves the keys with a grin,

"Still can."

In response to his amusement, Dean huffs and rolls his eyes back, about to reply with a remark of his own that is likely to border on the slightly less than cordial –

Then someone clears their throat and he turns around.

"Mom?"

The red haired woman is standing in front of him, looking both wildly awkward and weirdly sort of frail, like a passing gust of wind might clean punt her over if she isn't extra careful. Has she always been that thin? She is stood beneath the streetlight that lights the gym car park and it makes her face appear pretty haggard and gaunt and in spite of the fact that it's the middle of summer, she is hugging her own arms against her body like she's cold. If he's honest then she's a million miles from the memories in which she always seemed outspoken and full-on and he can't help but wonder what the hell must have happened.

Maybe the guilt has eaten her?

He suddenly needs to know.

As Roman comes to stand in close beside him with a measure of hostility that makes Dean feel warm, his long absent mother looks around like she's nervous and then sucks her lip in so hard it almost bursts. When she lets it out it is swollen with blood flow and makes her ghostly skin appear even _more_ white which then only doubles when she paints a forced smile on and shuffles a step forwards with an awkward wave.

"Hi."

Dean's eyes look past her and into the darkness in an attempt to pick her big asshole boyfriend out, which he figures is probably what Roman is doing, especially when she stutters,

"I – uh – he's not here."

Dean blows a breath out.

Okay, that's a good thing.

Roman agrees too since he eases his stance, although the sentence also then drops them into a silence which is so damn uncomfortable that no one knows where to start and it makes Dean want the ground to open up and swallow him because what he wants to say to her sort of instantly shrivels up. Luckily however Roman breaks the stunted silence with calm but cautious tones,

"Is there something you want?"

Clearly he still isn't happy about what's happening but nor is he aggressive and that settles Dean as well, because having his brother there always makes things better, no matter what is shaking from who or even _where_.

His mother sort of falters,

"I – um – can we go someplace? To talk I mean. If – if you want to, that is?"

The question makes Dean's insides tremor in response to it and his very first reaction is to shake his head no. Having her there reminds him of how much he resents her but then something else drifts through his brain.

Closure.

The teenager stops,

"Um, I mean, there's a diner round the corner?"

She responds as if he has given her the world and a look of elation lights up in her green orbs that makes him feel both glad and uncertain all at once.

"I – I'd like that."

Dean glances back to Roman, pleading for acceptance which he receives at once with a rough stroke of hair in the instinctive needy tousling that the Reigns' do always and that makes him feel safe and impossibly loved.

"You sure uce?"

"Uh huh."

His brother nods slowly,

"Guess I'll wait here then."

"I'll be right back."

Because it's been so long since he's spent time with his mother, Dean isn't sure what to do for the best and nor does he feel comfortable walking beside her, so he simply turns hoping she'll fall into step. The sound of heels hitting asphalt a second later swiftly reassure him that for once he's figured right and although he is bursting with pent up momentum he forces himself to keep to a normal walking gait. _Shit_ but it's weird though. Like really damn awkward which is probably only natural but still doesn't sit right and only gets worse the further he moves from Roman who is his lightning rod for confidence.

Dean breathes in heavily and carries on.

The diner is a tiny little rundown sort of eatery that can only really fit in a handful and booths and is usually wrestling with the local food inspector about some hygiene issue although the food is really good and has saved their asses after forgetting lunch a lot of times or has sent burgers over when the staff are working late. The owner even nods very vaguely as he enters and Dean smiles back.

He's okay.

He's in _his_ place.

Since there isn't a huge choice of seating, Dean slides into a booth by the glass, which peers out onto the ramshackle neighborhood which he will always be fond of because it turned his life around. His mother slides silently into place opposite and then sits fidgeting awkwardly with her hands, which lasts up until the overweight, no-nonsense waitress saunters by to take their orders with a reluctant sounding _yeah_? Dean gets a coffee which he figures seems grown up and to show that he's busy he orders it to go. His mother does the same, but orders hers strong black in a proper cup and saucer.

He isn't sure what she means by that.

Not that it matters as they lapse back into silence and Dean bites his lip and lets his gaze wander off, desperately trying to think up some conversation or a way to approach what he really wants to say.

She beats him to it,

"He's very protective."

It takes him a second to figure out what is meant and he screws his face up until his blue eyes are slitted in baffled confusion,

"Roman?"

She nods,

"Is he who you live with?"

"He – he's my brother, his family adopted me."

Which isn't strictly true because technically speaking he doesn't have a family, or not in the legal sense anyway and therefore his connection with the Reigns' is not binding although he sure hopes that _they_ don't see it that way. His mother hums a tiny little note out and then nods her head although she doesn't look up, preferring instead to gaze into the coffee which is thumped down in front of her with a bored sounding sigh.

"I'm glad you've found people."

It seems to be genuine and so Dean shrugs a little, not sure what to say.

"Thanks."

Again another little silence falls across them and threatens to engulf the tentative mood, although once again it's the thin redhead who rescues it by smiling very mildly and lightly meeting his gaze,

"I went to the old house a couple of weeks back, wonderin' if you or your father were still there."

The words shiver through him and he grips at his coffee cup until the heat bleeds through the styrofoam and starts to burn his palm up. The thought of his old home is enough to make him shudder and feel vaguely sick on the very best of days and so hearing it said from the woman who had left him there makes his heart freeze up and his breathing grow harsh. Usually Roman is there to intercept it, or Mama or even good old _Papa_ Reigns at times, but faced with his mother he has no option but to stow it and not let it defeat him.

The older woman merely sighs,

"What – what happened to him?"

"His ass is in jail," Dean's response comes out far more harshly than he'd like and clearly sounds so utterly hateful that the green eyes launch up in what amounts to vague surprise, "On kidnapping charges and abuse of a minor."

His mother stares back.

"I'm sorry."

Is she though?

She certainly doesn't seem brim-full of compassion, but possibly that has just never been her style and instead Dean is expecting a _Mama Reigns_ reaction because that's what he's grown used to and that's what he wants. Someone who feels it whenever he's aching and is there to make it better whenever he gets hurt. Evidently that isn't something she's good at and it makes the teen harden.

"Did you know what he was like?"

It's the question that has been waiting to make a break for it since the moment she had left six long years before and has grown to a point where it's almost an accusal which is why it's so sharp and also why she jolts back.

"He – he always had a bad temper."

"So you knew what he would do and you left me anyway?"

It isn't a request, more like a flat-out accusation and her eyelids flicker as her hands shake the cup. She's almost in danger of spilling the whole order but in the moment Dean frankly couldn't care about that, because this is the moment he has waited god damn _years_ for and he will see it through.

He can't give up now.

"I – I never thought he would hurt his child in that way."

"Well he fuckin' did."

She shakes her head,

"What can I say?"

It isn't a flippant thing, she's actually asking and the answer to that is Dean straight up doesn't know. What is there even to be said going forwards? He grumbles out a sentence.

"Hope it was worth all the crap."

Green eyes flicker upwards,

"Hope what was?"

Dean gestures as if it should be obvious,

"The guy you ran away for, I hope you had – like – _fun_ or whatever bein' somewhere else."

"I thought about you every day."

In terms of declarations of love or apology, it isn't the strongest or most convincing Dean's ever heard and instead seems like something she thinks she's meant to tell him, but at the same time there is a sort of something else there as well. Possibly fear or drugs or alcohol yet it could just about also be real remorse and it makes Dean's anger sort of die back a little because isn't that what he wanted from this meeting all along?

"You missed me?"

She pauses and sucks a short breath in and a weird look sort of briefly flickers across her gaze,

"Mmm, I hoped that you were happy and cared for."

Dean looks down and shrugs,

"Well, I am now."

For a minute or two there is another long silence, only this time it actually feels lighter than before which makes his mother look up and blink at him,

"So what happens now?"

Dean isn't sure although somewhere in all of the swirling emotion there is one thing he does know with a fierce sort of pull that seems like a logical next step in their puzzle and a reaffirming moment.

"I think you should meet my mom."

* * *

 **Next chapter, Mama Reigns and Mama Ambrose meet face to face in what is Dean's version of the Twilight Zone. See you there!**


	9. Nine

**Worlds collide in this one then, hope you like it. Also, Mama Reigns rocks! Also, as ever, thank you for your reviews, reading them makes me smile when I need them the most.**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, It was quite civil wasn't it? I'm actually pretty proud of them. But I think it shows what strangers they have become, because neither one of them knows the other. It's not like that with Mama Reigns though and this chapter is all about that, hope you like it!**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Haha, that made me laugh. I take it you liked the last one then? Hopefully this chapter is even better than that. Got Mama Reigns coming in hard in this one although in her lovely Mama Reigns way of course!**

 **Mandy, Aww, thank you for mentioning the hard work bit. I do love writing (it's keeping me sane right now mostly) but I regularly freak out about having lost the knack so it can be hard! I love this chapter though, so I hope you do too!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Happy you like it. As for Lauren and Dean? That particular story will be launching after Wrestlemania (which is when I come back from my holiday) I'm actually in the middle of editing it now, so hopefully it should be all good to go!**

 **Sodapop25, Thanks for your review. Happy you're still there for all of these updates. This one's a good one. We get to see Mama Reigns being lowkey possessive, because we all need a Mama Reigns in our life!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Mama Reigns is such an unsung hero! Glad you love the woman as much as I do. Yeah, Dean's mom isn't overflowing with cookies and cheek kisses etc. But hey, she's had a tough life...or is up to something more sinister...more clues ahead!**

 **Minnie1015, Mama Reigns is going to kill her with kindness, but yeah, Mama Reigns is going to be awesome nonetheless! Moms meeting just** _ **sounds**_ **all awkward doesn't it? Poor Dean, I'm not sure why I get him into these things!**

 **Raze Olympus, Yay to your yay! Glad you're still enjoying it and fingers crossed you like this one too. I'm trickling out a few more clues about Mama Ambrose here, so I'll be interested to see what everyone makes of her after this!**

 **Skovko, Haha, mom bake off is an epic idea, both of them wearing sweatbands and everything and flour billowing up around them in clouds! I think Dean was probably embellishing his memories too but I don't think his birth mom having turned to drugs has helped. Addiction is bad kids!**

 **HannonsPen, Yep, it's time for Dean's mom to meet the person who filled her shoes (and then some) while she was away. Oh wow, being a live-in nanny must have been hard but rewarding. People can be the worst sometimes!**

 **Rebel8954, Mama Reigns is going to be her usual wonderful self but with a definite weather eye on things, she's no slouch! As for Jerry? Well, he's just your average upstanding citizen, no? Bad news since you don't like him, because here he is again like the proverbial bad penny!**

 **Awkward mom brunch then...**

* * *

 **Nine.**

In hindsight maybe it isn't the best suggestion to have his birth mother meet his newly adoptive mom and the woman he generally sees as his parent and who he loves. In fact it's probably a horrible decision and puts both women in a weird situation that he figures they would probably want to run a mile from. But the thing is they _do_ it, both of them say yes to it and with Mama Reigns even offering up the family home.

"No point in sitting in some stuffy old restaurant when we can do it here and keep it low-key. No judgements, just tea and I'll make us some lunch snacks, how does lemon cake sound to you?"

Honestly, Dean can't felt but love her pretty fiercely.

He doesn't deserve her.

None of them do.

Even so on the day that their brunch club is happening, Dean wakes up feeling weird and full of nerves, like the whole thing is somehow bound to backfire and ruin the goodwill with both women that he has. In fact he almost refuses to turn up to it and at one point Roman even has to drag him from his bed, taking an ankle and inching him across the mattress until he almost hits the floor.

"Uce, you have to go."

He knows he does – he isn't an idiot – but his sheer reluctance knows no bounds and by the time they let themselves in across the threshold he could literally vomit he is so damn worked up.

Roman is staying throughout the duration, ostensibly putting some shelves up for his mom, in a rare nod to handiwork that's never been an interest but is suddenly just itching to be put to good use. Since Dean isn't an idiot – as aforementioned – he knows it's just a ploy for the big guy to stay close and it makes the kid grin and helps him settle a little.

A very, very little.

He's still frightened to go in.

What doesn't help and actually shocks him since the woman has been totally absent for six years, is his birth mom actually getting there _before_ them, which Mama Reigns broaches in a gentle whisper,

"She's here."

He freezes in her arms, sort of stuck in the welcome hug and the older woman teases his hair and steps back, keeping her warm hands clamped around his damp ones and squeezing them tightly,

"S-she is?"

"Mmhmm."

The woman in front of him nods very lightly but otherwise doesn't look too badly stunned, which hopefully means that the mood has been respectful and his birth mom hasn't scared her or offended her yet. Not that she won't do – his family isn't noted for always having the perfect thing to say – but at least as a start it's not a disaster and that has to be a rare positive.

Right?

As Roman peels off with a clap to his shoulder and a murmur in his ear about being _right there_ , Mama Reigns takes her teenage son by the elbow and keeps him close against her as she steers him into the room.

His mother – his birthmother and _shit_ is it confusing – is sitting on a couch in the airy sunroom and has actually rustled up a god damn dress from somewhere, which is floaty and green with printed flowers across the trim. She is sitting almost like she's never seen a chair before and clearly doesn't know whether to close or cross her knees but at first glance she appears to be almost respectable. Except for the chipped nails and bruises dotted across her thighs. If Mama Reigns notices however – which she has to – then because she's amazing she doesn't say a word and as far as Dean can tell doesn't let her gaze falter as she pushes him down into a seat in the middle and then sweeps up a cup and holds it cheerfully out,

"Tea?"

His mother nods haltingly looking very mildly baffled since Dean doubts she's ever had proper tea before, although once again Mama Reigns simply smiles at her and pours her a helping before passing it across. As she had done before with the coffee in the diner, the redhead's hand violently trembles the cup, which the teenager frowns at with a flickering of doubtfulness because it seems more than nerves –

Like it's the product of something else.

"Baby?"

"Huh?"

Mama Reigns snaps him out of it and when he looks back she's holding a knife out and he knows in an instant that she gets where his mind is since her eyes just seem knowing.

"Will you cut the cake?"

She's trying to take him away from his thinking because it's likely the sort of thing that could ruin a brunch, besides which Dean likes that she's still using _baby_ because it's vaguely possessive and like she's staking her ground. Silently he takes the knife from her fingers and slithers across his seat towards the golden looking sponge and having something to do helps to settle him like the family matriarch clearly knows it will.

"Dean usually helps me out in the kitchen, he's a very good baker."

It's just general chat, but wrapped up within it is a hint of maternal ownership that he hadn't even known he'd need to hear said but that makes him smile to have her fighting to keep him despite the fact she doesn't have to –

He's made his choice.

 _She_ is his mom.

In response to it however, his birth mother shifts herself and slops a gulp of tea into the saucer as she does, her voice sort of wobbly and weirdly coarse and scratchy which makes the sentence sound awkward,

"We made Christmas cookies once."

Although she doesn't intend it as a bad thing precisely, her words almost function as a hopeless misstep, since there's no way that doing something _once_ with her child can ever trump the ways that Mama Reigns holds his heart. Besides which he doesn't remember making cookies with any single person other than his adoptive mom andthat means that the fragile redhead is either lying or else he was so young it didn't stick in his head.

Either way he knows that he's made the right decision and that the wider Reigns' household is where he's meant to be in life and that makes him blow a contented little sigh out as Mama Reigns replies,

"That must have been nice."

Despite the fact that there's a strange maternal turf war – or the potential for one perhaps – the next hour goes well, or at least as well as seems physically conceivable given the totally bizarre situation playing out and also factoring in his awkward birth mother who obviously hasn't socialized in years without drugs.

The latter point is one he grows increasingly sure of as he watches the redhead in the bright late morning light, for the first time really noticing the jitters, her weight and her pallor.

It has to be drugs.

On the streets he grew up on junkies were everywhere so by the time he was eight Dean could pinpoint the look and knew to steer clear to keep out of trouble. For some reason though he'd never figured it for his mom. Largely because whenever he had pictured her, he'd imagined her happy with her strip club fancy man and living a life so high-class and wild that she had shunned her child for it.

Drugs hadn't entered his mind.

In real terms it should probably make him vaguely sort of angry that she has willingly screwed her damn life up so bad, but in the end all he feels is a deep sense of pity and a very mild concern.

Was it _better_ that she'd run off?

After all he'd already had one addictive parent who had drunk and partaken in the occasional sniff and the general result was spending years being beaten, which he wouldn't have wanted doubled by his mother's abuse as well. Not that she _would_ have but in a hard drugs household it would have been almost impossible to make a life and it might have swallowed him up almost completely. Which meant he might not have ended up where he was –

Happy and healthy and with an actual future that he wants to make happen.

Had she given him that?

Had her taking off and leaving him helpless led him to the new family he treasures so much?

His head sort of spinswhich Mama Reigns seems to notice since she taps his kneecap gently as she reaches for more tea and once more it clears his mind and makes him focus, which is precisely the tender reminder that he needs. In fact, the whole thing seems ridiculously positive and although he's not sure what they talk about exactly, the conversation is constant and not too intense, in a way that makes even his birth mom ease slightly –

Right up until the door knocker hammers again.

There's a doorbell too, so the banging isn't needed and seems to hint at someone who just likes to make noise and which makes the redhead stiffen in an instant and lower her cup clumsily,

"That will be Jerry come for me."

 _Jerry, ugh_.

Dean's hackles sort of bristle on instinct because her boyfriend is the man he now blames for her state, which may or may not be an unfair assumption but is so fierce and strong that it can't be held back. Then there's the way the guy seems so possessive and pushy and generally too much like his old man. Although at least she seems to have a type that she sticks with, for better or for worse.

Mama Reigns coos back,

"Oh dear, already? Maybe we can do this another time then?"

Dean's birth mom blinks in measures of surprise, clearly not having expected a second invite or the overall warmth that seems to flood through the room. In response to it she nods but the movement is jerky and totally caught out.

"Uh – sure – I mean, that would be nice."

She smiles a little then and it almost looks genuine, but at the rekindled knocking it is wiped straight off again. By the time they make it to the hallway together, Roman has come out to see what's going on and as the door slides opens and reveals the hated Jerry, he braces himself too and matches Dean's own firm stance. Not that it seems to make much of a difference to the scruffily bearded asshole who simply lets himself in, blowing out a whistle as he studies the entrance and every inch of the interior.

"You got a real nice place."

He doesn't even bother to acknowledge the woman whose actual house it is and who is stood before his face, although Mama Reigns merely smiles back at him and tries to sound grateful,

"How sweet of you to say."

It's laced with a very lightly hidden sort of cattiness that Dean has never really heard from her before, but he likes it to the point that it makes him grin wryly and he mentally cheers for her,

 _Go mom, go_.

Once again however Asshat Jerry doesn't notice and cranes his neck to look at the other nearby rooms, acting as if the rest of them aren't present or like a realtor pricing up the whole estate,

"Your husband must make a god damn fortune."

Roman's fists clench and his thick brows draw in because no way in hell is that any of his business, not to mention the implication is totally _not_ okay. Dean reacts too but it is much more unsettled because why is the man so buzzed by what might be in the bank? Nor does it help that the guy seems excited in a way that Dean hasn't seen from him before, plus there is something in the squinty eyed gaze that looks hungry and which makes the teenager's stomach start to roll.

 _Not okay, not okay_.

Instead of react in outrage however or punch him in the face which would be well within her rights, Mama Reigns instead again nods her head gently and sidesteps the impoliteness with a courteous shrug, which is equal parts easy and pointedly elusive but entirely brilliant.

"My husband works very hard."

In response to it Jerry's look snaps back towards her, as if finally clueing into the fact he's being wildly rude. Or else possibly figuring that they're unlikely to tell him the state of their finances.

Well, what did he think?

Throughout it all Dean's birth mom stands hovering on the doormat, swallowing down nerves and clearly wanting to just go, which she then makes clear by tugging on his elbow and drawing his gaze,

"Jerry, come on."

It works for all of about a second, with the bulky man actually moving to head out, but suddenly he turns back again and hauls her round with him, nodding across the distance,

"Did you ask him?"

"Did I – huh?"

Given the redhead's look of sheer bafflement, she has no damn idea what is in her partner's head and in reply a sharp look passes briefly between them before she finally clues into it with a silent little _oh_. Clearly however, whatever is intended is not about to come from her and so Jerry forces out a little bubble of fake laughter and pats her hand clumsily,

"So forgetful this one is, she was supposed to ask the kid if he wanted to come stay with us? Maybe just for a couple of nights? Nothin' too fancy – just one of them sofa beds – but we'd love to have him there and get to know him all the same."

As the question floats around the big airy hallway, Dean's face falls and he stiffens with a dread that forces its way up from some place deep inside of him and makes him almost tremble which Roman sees then steps in,

"Sorry, he can't."

Jerry glares at him hard across the distance and his sudden look of hatred almost chills the summer air and paints a murderous feeling mood between the two of them that neither man flinches from,

"Maybe _he_ should decide?"

Roman shakes his head,

"It isn't about that, we've got a big project, need all hands at the gym."

It's not a total lie but it is a fabrication since their spin marathon needs only a handful of guys, but then they all know that it doesn't much matter since the point is pretty clear.

 _Dean's not going anywhere_.

For a second Jerry simply continues his glaring but at a tug from his girlfriend he abruptly smiles again, the expression by no means reaching the whole distance or including his eyes.

"Perhaps another day then."

By the time they finally leave altogether, Dean's heart is racing it's so damn amped up and not even Mama Reigns reaching out to hug him or Roman carding through his hair is able to help. Because something about his birth mom's chunky partner spells a trouble that the teenager can practicallysmell in the air. He doesn't trust the guy even as far as he can throw him –

It feels like there is far worse coming their way.

* * *

 **Next up, what Papa Reigns thinks of this whole crazy situation and then makes an offer that rocks Dean's little world…**


	10. Ten

**Hitting double digits with the chapters already?! Hope you're all still enjoying the ride. Nearly 100 reviews as well, thank so much for every single review.**

 **Sodapop25, You betcha I will, consider this thing officially updated! We're motoring along like a steam train now. Thank you for your reviews and for reading!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Watch yo'self before you wreck yo'self (sorry, I have never used that saying before in my life and now I know why...I'll blame it on being sleep deprived). But yeah, Jerry is a suspicious little character. Brace yourself for the next chapter with him!**

 **Skovko, Jerry's brain is ticking alright, but on the plus side it's probably too small to hold more than one nefarious plan, so that's a good thing, right? He certainly doesn't have much of a handle on the word 'subtle' that's for sure!**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Aww, thank you. The temptation is always to crash right into the action, but I always feel easing into something makes the drama have even more of a bang (because believe me, the drama is coming, I can see it rounding the bend now!)**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Aww, thank you and thank you! I really mean that though, thank you for reviewing and I'm super happy you're still loving this story. Gonna getting to the big all out drama chapters real soon so brace yourself for those!**

 **Mandy, Thank you so much, you really brought a smile to my face. Mum's health has picked up a bit now after a real downturn, so that's a real relief. As for Mama Reigns, well, she won't turn Mama Bear-like unless she has to...maybe she has to later on? Until then, she'll bake cakes!**

 **Guest (Skittlz that's you right?) Mama Ambrose sure is a quandry. Is she being pushed? Is she dead inside? Well, the good news is all of those questions will be answered. The bad news is...not right away! First you have your wish of finding out what Papa Reigns thinks. He's pretty cool too!**

 **Minnie1015, Mama Reigns is so lovely I think her plan is to give them a sickly sweet tooth rot that causes an infection, I figure she might be sneaky like that! But yeah, safe to say the gruesome twosome are not the most trustworthy figures right now!**

 **HannonsPen, Eau De Jerry definitely sounds like an advert I would see on TV with Johnny Depp in a desert mumbling incoherently. Why are perfume adverts so weird?! Anyway, yep, Jerry is totally not the most palatable character. He pops up next chapter, so brace yourself!**

 **Here comes Papa Reigns then!**

* * *

 **Ten.**

Once Dean's redhead birth mother and her partner have been safely shuffled off Reigns territory for good, he and Roman stay on for dinner and await Papa Reigns returning from work. He comes in perhaps two or three hours later, by which time the shelves in his office are up, although possibly not as horizontal as he would like them judging from his expression when he goes to check them out, whereupon Roman scratches his neck awkwardly and offers up a shrug,

"It was my first attempt pop."

Dean stands in the doorway grinning because he likes the rare occasions when his older brother squirms and the smirk earns him a quick cuff across the hairline as the two men saunter past him.

Normal family stuff.

They leave the general topic of his haphazard birth mom and the hastily arranged brunch until dinner has been served, by which time Papa Reigns has shucked out of his work clothes and taken his seat.

"So, how did it go?"

Mama Reigns shakes out a freshly pressed napkin and smiles back easily,

"I think it went well."

"Not too uncomfortable?"

"The poor woman was clearly nervous but then how could she not be in someone else's home?"

Dean blinks across at the couple in silence as he drinks in the casual sounding gentle back and forth, as if the pair are discussing the weather or the garden and not his wayward and rediscovered mom. In fact it's probably a testament to both of them and the strength of their characters that there isn't more alarm and even when Mama Reigns mentions Asshole Jerry she manages a smile,

"Her partner's a curious one."

 _Curious_ in this case doubling for nosy or possibly something far worse than that, although given that a curse would never fall from their mother it will have to make do.

Papa Reigns frowns,

"Partner?"

As his mild confusion drifts out across the table, Dean draws a breath in and bites his lip hard, hating once again being the cause of their troubles because they don't deserve a bit of it.

"My mom's boyfriend."

" _Ah_ , I get it now."

Roman grumbles,

"The guy is an asshole – sorry mom – been staking the gym out all week, then shows up here asking questions about money and tryin' to get uce to go stay with 'em."

Dean blinks.

In many ways the surge of near predictable anger is weirdly reassuring since it reminds him they care. What it _also_ reminds him however is to be open and to share with his new family any thoughts in his head and it is why he suddenly blurts out a sentence that makes them all pause,

"I'm pretty sure she's on drugs."

Three surprised faces spin back in his direction and Dean blushes quickly then drops his gaze at once, which only returns when Roman stretches a hand out and palms at his nape,

"Yeah, we know uce."

"Hold up, you _do_?"

Roman nods gently and Dean feels like an idiot for not having already guessed that they would, especially since his mother doesn't really try to hide it with the shaking and the pallor and the hollowed looking orbs. Frankly Roman's ninety something _grandma_ would have noticed if you had put the two women in a room for an hour and so of course his uber astute brother would notice and Mama Reigns too –

She fixes him a look,

"Baby, are you okay?"

Dean blows a little breath out and then absently forks mashed potatoes round his plate, not really sure how or _what_ he is feeling or even what he should aim for.

"Uh, I don't know."

At the head of the table Papa Reigns curses quietly and then uses his napkin to mop up a blob, which has fallen from his fork and straight onto his collar on a patch he can't see.

"Oh god damn it all."

The moment – not to mention the long ensuing struggle as he attempts to track the hidden stain down – make the teenager smile just a fraction and in response to it the patriarch lifts up a brow,

"Glad I could provide little amusement."

He's going for sarcastic but can't hide his smirk and instantly the atmosphere brightens around them which makes everything that's happened weirdly _not_ seem so bad. After all – Dean figures – how the hell can it ever be when he belongs to a family that is as loving as theirs? Because whatever he decides or whatever else happens, he knows that they will all be there unflinching throughout, which is not only something both new and exciting but also what he knows without a shadow of a doubt and which therefore makes the whole _long lost mother_ thing just about bearable,

Papa Reigns coughs,

"Son?"

Dean blinks up in startled bewilderment, not even realizing he's drifted off,

"Huh?"

"I said whereabouts are you with all this mentally – where do you see things going from here?"

It general terms it's a pretty good question and the more Dean thinks on it the more it seems clear. Although getting it out is surprisingly difficult and he stumbles a little,

"I think it's too long – like – too much has happened an' we're different people now, so a _mother son_ kinda thing wouldn't really work. Besides, I don't really want one with her. But I do – like – I do wanna know she's alright."

Papa Reigns nods,

"Of course you do, we all do and so whatever she needs we will make sure she gets."

Dean beams broadly, his heart ablaze with it and a cheeky little grin on his lips,

"Thanks pop."

The older man snorts but the smile can't be hidden and so he slides a hand across and lays it over Dean's own, tapping it lightly and grunting a little in a flicker of raw affection.

"Don't mention it son."

With the plates lying empty on the table around them, Mama Reigns gets up and clears them away, bustling briskly into the kitchen and returning with yet another awesome sweet treat laden tray. Throughout the course of the _mom brunch_ earlier Dean had stress eaten most of the cake so shouldn't have room for a whole apple dumpling although he takes one with a scoop of ice cream anyway and is nose deep inside it when Papa Reigns clears his throat again and starts a new topic,

"Now then, about your gym."

Dean looks up, alarm shooting through him and his eyes find out Roman. What's wrong with their gym? The bigger man in turn offers up a tiny shrug at him and then turns to his father,

"What about it?"

"It's doing well."

Since the response he gets isn't a question, Roman merely answers with a gentle little nod, trying to work out where his father might be headed and coming up as empty as his brother is,

"Uh huh."

Papa Reigns' eyes glint wilfully back at them and a devilish smirk begins to pull at his face, remaining there even as he pulls out a binder stuffed brim-full with papers and passes it across,

"Take a look at these and let me know what you think of them."

Dean leans over as Roman opens the file up then frowns as he sees a derelict building, three storeys in total and not unlike their gym. Scanning the rest of the document further, he's sees that the place is in the neighborhood next door and therefore in a similarly rundown location which, much like the locals, people tend to avoid. As Roman lifts up the first sheet of paper another newer building falls into sight, which is more steel and corrugated iron based than the former but in yet another neighborhood that often struggles to keep the peace.

Dean blinks,

"Uh, they just look like empty buildings – m' I missin' somethin' here?"

"Could you make them into gyms?"

The question comes out of the blue and is startling but Roman catches onto it all pretty quick, which is probably thanks to over twenty years of watching and silently learning how his father's mind ticks.

"You thinking of opening up a couple more places?"

Papa Reigns shakes his head then leans himself back, lacing his fingers over his waistline before grinning just a touch,

"I want _you_ to do that, provided you think you can handle the workload?"

Dean gapes,

"You – you mean you want Roman to leave the gym?"

He feels a sudden surge of panic swiftly rising, which it shouldn't do really and doesn't make sense. After all, he and Roman are roommates and brothers now, so not being work colleagues won't change a thing and yet in the moment it _feels_ like it will do and it makes his chest flutter and start to construct. In response to it Papa Reigns hefts himself forwards and taps a well-worn finger across the sheets, highlighting a line at the top of the papers and guiding him towards it,

"Have you read what it says?"

Dean squints a little, reciting it outright,

"Name of new owner, Roman Reigns and – ,"

 _Holy shit_.

He stops himself right on the cusp of full on shouting it because there in black type is his very own name and the seeming suggestion that he _co-owns the buildings_ which cannot in any way possibly be right. Blinking in amazement his bright blue eyes waver then rise towards the still beaming head of the house, barely even able to formulate a sentence as he splutters out syllables,

"Are you – is this – _what_?"

Roman jogs him in the ribs kind of harshly but it's driven by excitement since he's wearing a grin and instantly the big hand is back on his shoulder before sliding up wildly to tousle his mane,

"Looks like you and me got ourselves a tiny empire."

Dean goldfishes,

"I own a business?"

"Technically you co-own three, since I transferred the gym to you boys just this morning."

"But – but what about our jobs and – and the team?"

Papa Reigns smiles ridiculously fondly, like he's pleased that the kid is still all about the staff and it translates across in his gruffly offered answer which also bleeds warmth,

"You can work there all you want, the new places only need your _model_ to be successful, nothing else."

"So things aren't changin'?"

"You might get richer if that helps?"

Dean sort of grins and Papa Reigns winks back covertly as his wife clasps her fingers and beams at them both, positively oozing maternal excitement that is totally infectious.

"My big businessmen sons."

* * *

 **So, Dean is now officially a business owner. Didn't I say that Papa Reigns rocks? This is pretty much the calm before the storm though, next time, things start to get pretty real, pretty fast!**


	11. Eleven

**So, ready for things to start going downhill? Yes? Well in that case you are mean, mean people. Sorry teen Dean, the readers made me do it…**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Oh no, colds are the worst and they always come out of nowhere too! I hope you feel better and I hope this chapter helps too. What's the saying? Read wrestling fiction for a cold, starve a fever? Because if that's not it then it totally should be!**

 **Mandy, I figure if Dean's not going back to school then the least he should have is a bankable future, plus some pay off for all his hard work. Thanks for your prayers, we're now halfway through mum's treatment so getting there slowly.**

 **SkittlezLvr79, You can always read my mind with these stories! You know me too well (or have my computer bugged, should I be worried?!) Yep, good old Jerry and Mama Ambrose are never too far away and this chapter probably makes that pretty darn clear!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Thank you! It's no picnic getting these things written and edited and posted up, but the comments always make it worth it. Things switch up from this chapter on, but in a good/dramatic way I hope. Fingers crossed you like it!**

 **Raze Olympus, Teen Dean is far too cute and precious to have to put up with his mother and Jerry's crap, you're totally right...unfortunately nobody hold either of them that though, so there's an outside chance they'll show up again...okay a big chance...alright, so it's totally happening!**

 **Minnie1015, I know you like your drama, so from here on out, I think you'll like this even more (fingers crossed). Papa Reigns can be a hero too. I feel I don't give him enough love sometimes, so that last one was for him, let him be the big softie for once!**

 **Skovko, Well, Dean and Roman were running the place anyway, so it was pretty much like they had owned it all along. Papa Reigns just needed to be old sweetheart and officially sign it over (the extra buildings were because he cares...but sssh, don't tell him I said that!)**

 **Drama, drama, drama, drama...**

* * *

 **Eleven.**

It takes just three days for the crest he's been riding to come back down to earth with a thump and is made more unfair in that it knocks the wind out of him.

He doesn't see it coming.

Nobody does.

It's early in the week and Dean is still buzzing from being gifted the gym by Papa Reigns the week before, which he still has to totally pinch himself hourly to even very vaguely start to figure is real. He and Roman have already told the workforce, which they do in the morning when everyone is there and they respond like they've won a world record for something because every single person that works for them _lights up_.

Sasha is so damn emotional about it that she actually gives Dean a kiss on the lips and while he guesses it's fully accidental he doesn't complain and even laughs when it makes her blush. Three months earlier she had gone and got married to a guy they hadn't know she was dating at all and Dean had huffed and sulked just a little until the day he had caught her _singing_ and realized that his crush was in love. From that point on it had been hard to be bitter, besides which he had then seen the choppy haired blonde, whose ripped jeans and general age compatibility had frankly made him forget he'd been in _puppy love_ at all. Roman likes to kid him about all his hormones and how fickle they make their gender throughout their teens, but Dean knows different –

Choppy hair is his soulmate.

He just needs to meet her and make sure she feels the same.

In actual fact it is next on his hitlist and he figures if he fails to win her over then his business will help. After all he isn't just a teenage no-hoper still studying in lessons. He has a gym empire now. Or at least he co-owns _one_ thriving gym venture with another two in the pipeline being primed to take off and all before his seventeenth birthday which _has_ to impress her, right? For the most part though he's so pumped about the business and his broadening future that he forgets about his mom, up until he hears about the long police record possessed by her boyfriend,

"Jerry Burke, drug possession, extortion and fraud."

Roman delivers the verdict one evening when Dean is fixing them a stir-fry up and following a fairly lengthy phone call with their father who has clearly paid someone to do some detective work. It shocks him a little but only a little since Jerry has always seemed a pretty shitty guy although it leaves Dean with questions including a big one which he voices right away,

"What are we meant to do now?"

"Nothing, we just wait uce and see if they come round again."

"Okay, then what?"

His brother had clapped a hand across his back and then kneaded at his neckline in a soothing little motion that had worked like it always did,

"That would be _your_ choice."

Which is kind of a pretty stressful thing to have to think on, or _would_ be if his mother didn't once more take off and literally disappear right into the ether like she had done the last time things had been too tough. By the third day he is even resigned to the notion that maybe he isn't going to see her again or that possibly she'll be one of those _infrequent_ parents who pops up every year and for the most part that's fine, since it won't impact much on his own life too dramatically or upset the world he's built with the Reigns and therefore it seems like it's maybe best for all of them.

Which is naturally the moment she then chooses to show up again.

It's early in the evening and just getting dusky and Dean and Roman are finishing off, they've started to open a little later than usual and so the staff on the late shift are getting themselves geared up and gathering in the hall for the loose pre-shift briefing that either of the _co-owners_ likes to give out. Sometimes Dean takes them but since he and Truth are cleaning up after a hectic boxing class for the a group of under fives, Roman steps in with a smug little chuckle before grabbing him in a headlock,

"Take those trash bags out _kid_."

"Hey," Dean squirms, "You're meant to call me co-owner,"

Roman scrubs his hair,

"How 'bout boy instead?"

Dean scoops up an empty soft drinks can and makes to throw it and his older brother skitters laughing away, his brown eyes glowing with a sort of contentment that always makes life and the world just seem _right_.

Truth shakes his head,

"You two are like children."

Roman stops in the doorway,

" _One_ of us still is."

He ducks the can, side-stepping off into the corridor as the empty sports drink bounces off the flanking wall and misses him by all of about two inches to which Dean huffs a sigh out and curses,

"Damn."

In response to the near miss and their more general antics, the gym staff veteran fights down a grin and blows out a breath that makes his hair braids waver and tangle together,

"You two yahoos _own_ this place?"

Dean grins brightly, layering the smugness until it almost drips off him like rainwater,

"Yep."

Truth shunts a garbage bag into his ribcage and raises a brow,

"In that case _boss_ , take out the trash."

If Dean was more of a skipping sort of person then he might even utilize it heading out back, since he feels so god damn pumped up and happy although fortunately he merely turns it into a jaunty little step. Even the dumpsters look pretty amazing since they're _his_ dumpsters now – or well, half of them are his – which makes them the best damn dumpsters in the city so therefore not a drag.

Okay, maybe a bit.

He throws the trash in with a chirruped little whistle and bangs the lid down before brushing off his hands and is then in the process of heading back into the gym again when he hears heels behind him which make him stop.

Surely not?

Even before he spins round towards her, he already knows without a doubt it's his mom and it makes his fists curl up in weird anger because why does she always have to come and mess things up? Why can't he have just a moment to celebrate all of the things going right in his life without one of his less than stellar birth parents pitching up, throwing a damn fit and getting involved? He hasn't really said as much on any of the occasions he had fumbled through their meetings before but he is going to say it there and make it clear once and unflinchingly that he does not, in any way want a relationship with her.

"Look mom – ,"

The two words are essentially all he manages and are said as he spins himself around on his heels, whereupon they swiftly die away into a murmur as he takes in the gigantic blooming bruise across her face.

He gasps,

"What the hell did that fuckin' asshole do to you?"

Because it has to be Jerry – just fucking _because_.

His mother smiles weakly and then winces above a split lip that looks fresh and weepy and matches her gaze. Dean feels an anger bubble up from deep inside of him and it growls out as a sentence,

"Where is he mom?"

She shakes her head and the red hair bounces, a few strands getting stuck in the wetness around her eyes and further highlighting the fact that she's been crying not to mention fucking _beaten_ –

He remembers how that feels.

"Doesn't matter kid,"

Her voice is a whisper and it breaks him a little because that's what he is. He is still just a kid and out of his element not to mention god damn _traumatized_ when it comes to domestic beef. Swallowing a little at the knot in his gullet which has risen straight up from the pit of his gut, he holds up a hand like she might try to take off on him and decides to get the person that he knows will always help.

"Stay here okay? I'll go get Roman and he can – ,"

" _No_."

It isn't a shout but itis weirdly sudden and issued like she's angry at his having even suggested it at all.

Dean shakes his head,

"I didn't mean – ,"

"Please son," she interrupts quietly, "Just walk me home instead?"

Then she holds a hand out and it trembles so badly that he finds himself moving before he registers he is. Gently allowing her to wrap around his elbow like she's lacking the strength to even hold herself up. It's the closest they have been to one another in a decade and potentially stretches back to the night she popped him out. Sometimes when he and Mama Reigns are out shopping for the clothes she likes to get him, she'll do the same thing and Dean sort of _melts_ at having her attached to him because it means she's not leaving –

But it's different with his birth mom.

She smells kind of stale and not like the perfume full of soft floral notes that Mama Reigns likes to wear and nor does she have his adoptive mother's cosiness. Instead she's frozen solid and nothing short of skin and bones. In truth, the whole thing is weirdly unsettling but there's a resonance too because he's doing right by her, which is pretty much all he wants from their acquaintance.

He's her son after all, so he _will_ see her right.

Briefly he wonders about stopping inside quickly and letting Truth or somebody know what's going on, but almost as if she can tell what he's thinking, his mother tugs at him and murmurs brokenly,

"Take me home."

Dean falters briefly,

"Uh, where're you stayin'?"

"We rented an apartment couple blocks away."

"Only a couple?"

"Two or three maybe, won't take five minutes."

He pauses,

"Okay."

For the most part they walk together pretty slowly, both being ruffled by the warm summer air. Despite that though she still feels pretty icy which he thinks could be withdrawal or more hopefully mild shock. The silence is hard though and after only one street of it, the teenager simply can't take it anymore and clears his throat roughly in a vague attempt to fill it which comes out forced sounding,

"I never asked when you got back – uh – to the city I mean – like – this bit, a few weeks or what?"

"Um, I guess about six months."

The answer sort of dumbfounds him a little because he pretty much figured she'd come straight to seek him out, which fairly categorically is _not_ what had happened and instead she had sat on it.

"Why didn't you – ," he stops, not too keen to sound like he's wounded because that would only make it seem like he cares and won't help his thing of trying to be courteous without getting close to her.

She licks her bloodied lips,

"I tried but – well – I didn't know you'd want to see me, I had to build my nerve up."

"Where were you before?"

"Mexico."

He grunts because that's always what he had guessed at and so relatively speaking it's not surprising to hear, besides which it explains why Titus couldn't find her when he'd tried to wing the precious emancipation sheets her way. Back then it had seemed like she wasn't on the planet and so often he had wondered if she wasn't maybe dead, although given the beaten addicted life she had grown into, maybe in a way, that might have been best? Dean shakes his head and fights it away again.

Nope, no good came of thinking like that.

"Down here, this way."

They turn into an alley which doesn't seem to have any apartment looking doors and something kind of prickles at Dean's neck a little,

"Uh, mom?"

His answer very quickly gets lost because halfway along a car turns the corner and squeezes tightly down the gap, headlights blinking and driving so fast that Dean worries it's not stopping and so braces himself.

It screeches to a halt.

In less than a second the driver has leapt out of it and come around the front in a purposeful stalk and Dean spots the gun even before he sees the person, who is vastly overweight with a beard.

 _Oh crap._

Before he even has time to react to it, Jerry has grabbed and hauled away his birth mom and spun her around with the gun to her temple which makes her sort of whimper as Dean's insides tense up.

"Get in the car kid."

He blinks in astonishment, his head wildly spinning in time to his heart, which is pounding up so hard and fast against his ribcage that it feels like it might be in danger of breaking out.

He falters,

"I – ,"

" _Now_."

To further his instruction Jerry holds the gun in closer to her head and Dean's hopeless mother begins shaking like a fault line, clearly on the verge of totally and utterly breaking down.

He swallows.

"A-alright, please don't hurt her."

The older man chuckles and then flings open a backdoor, throwing the keys at his beaten up girlfriend as he forces the kid in and then climbs in behind,

"You, drive, come on, let's get this shit moving."

Dean hits the backseat front first as he's shoved, then lets a cough out as Jerry sits on top of him and drives the wind clean out of his lungs. Tears prick Dean's eyes and he curses his stupidity and whispers Roman's name because he _needs_ him to come. Only this time it doesn't seem like that's going to happen since his protective older brother doesn't even know he's gone. In fact no one does because he didn't fucking tell them.

He repeats it again anyway.

 _Roman, please come._

* * *

 ***Ducks and hides* Come on, you guys love this stuff...um...right?**


	12. Twelve

**If anyone was wondering what Roman's big brother senses have been up to since the last chapter, well, here you go!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Yep, suffice to say that the entire Reigns family is less than impressed, starting with the big dog himself. Insane is certainly a good word for the last chapter, but we've still got a real rollercoaster ride to come!**

 **Sodapop25, Ugh, I know, I know, I'm so mean to Teen Dean, I don't know why I like seeing bad things happen to him when he's so cute and fluffy! Still, it means plenty of angsty Roman, which starts right here so I hope you enjoy.**

 **Skovko, Nope, Dean is not too smart here…actually no, I'm going to say that he's too good hearted. That's totally kinder than not calling him smart. Oh wow, I hadn't considered Lawler. Nah, I love The King too much to make him a bad guy!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Aww, thank you, I will try and keep it up. Hopefully you enjoy the rest of it. Things are pretty mad from this point on, but that's how we like it right? Enjoy!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Oh yeah, always keep the drama flowing but then throw in cute chapters to lull people into a false sense of security (I sound like a psycho now!) Dean wearing a tracking device might be the best/only way to go from now on, his past doesn't want to leave him alone!**

 **Mandy, Oh yes (evil fairy story witch type cackle and plumes of green smoke). But come on now, you've been with me on enough of these rides to know that I always put you through the wringer at some point! Would it be me if I didn't? Hope you like this one (panicky Roman in spades!)**

 **HannonsPen, Yep, both boys took their eyes off the ball on that last one. But don't feel too bad for Roman, because in this chapter and for several more he feels bad enough on his own. I love protective, big brother bear Roman though, so accept him as a gift from me!**

 **BankonReigns86, Aww thank you, I'm just glad that everyone is still enjoying it, especially now we've hit the high drama part (it was always bound to come though!) Good news too, tomorrow is here so here's your update, bad news, it probably does more harm than good!**

 **Minnie1015, Well, that's one of the things we share in common, loving a bit of beaten up (but not too badly hurt) Dean and lashings of over the top Roman to provide rescues, fury and hurt comfort things, because Roman is not a happy little camper for the rest of this (sorry Roman!)**

 **FreakinLunaticsYard, Thank you on all accounts. My mother is doing well this week and we're halfway through treatment so fingers crossed! Glad you love a bit of drama, I'm totally 100% with you on that. Making Roman worry seems to be my literary hobby...but he does it so well!**

 **Okay, so, back to the gym…**

* * *

 **Twelve.**

For the first forty minutes in which he can't find his brother, Roman isn't especially concerned. Which is mostly because the kid is such a whirlwind that he could have flitted off any which way to do stuff and so is therefore just as likely to be dreaming up new angles as he is to be mopping or emptying the drains. Besides which Roman doesn't think that anything has happened because they're still at the gym –

What could go wrong in _their_ place?

He gets the briefing done in the space of ten minutes and then spends the next fifteen helping out the staff and making sure the team has everything needed for the finishing leg of their new working day. Opening late is another Dean suggestion that the guys have been trialling for nearly a month and which has already started to pay them back nicely in scooping up new clients who like a twilight workout. Roman even figures some might have real professions, although frankly in their neighborhood that's kind of a reach.

Either way though, the gym is still busy and business is booming –

 _Their_ business now too.

It's something that he still has to shake his big head at because honestly it doesn't makes sense in his brain. That he could own a business with his scrappy little brother, both of which he has hauled back to life. Well, at least that's true in Dean's case anyway because the kid had once had been out on a ledge. But the business side of things and their healthy bank balance is down to the teenager.

They make one hell of a team.

Snorting a little at the way things have turned out, Roman strides back to where he last saw the kid, putting the messy looking boxing room straight again and grinning like the idiot he will likely always will be. Truth is still in there but there's no scruffy youngster and so Roman frowns a little,

"Uh oh, where is he now?"

It's a facet of Dean's nature that he can't always focus and is instead like a pup whose bright attentions wander off, which is possibly why he's always thinking up angles and new exciting ways for the business to work. What it _also_ means though is often straight up forgetting that he is actually supposed to be involved with something else and so Roman just assumes once again that's what's happened.

As apparently, so does Truth,

"You mean the little man? Last I saw he was takin' the trash out, but that was about a half hour back now. Kid's probably got him some brainwave or somethin' and is writin' it down somewhere."

Roman smiles,

"Must have, thanks man."

He congratulates Truth on getting the room ordered and then claps him on the shoulder and wishes him goodnight, getting the same in return from the veteran before retracing his steps to track his wayward younger brother down.

His first port of call on that front is the office, where he half expects to see the kid perched on the couch, computer on his lap and his fingers moving wildly as he types out an idea before it fades from his head. The other possibility of course is that he's sleeping, because the teenager fairly frequently works himself to death, tearing around the gym from the second they pitch up there pretty much right to the moment they leave. Sometimes it's easy to forget he's only sixteen because he's been through so much and is so god damn _him_. But at other points it is all too starkly apparent which includes when he's curled up and out like a light.

Frankly either one of those options is valid and so it troubles Roman slightly when his brother isn't there, because it means he is inching towards running out of places as to where he might be.

He checks the dumpsters out back –

Figuring that the kid has maybe fallen and is injured or has knocked himself out or something crazy like that and is sprawled out waiting for someone to notice and rescue his ass or set his broken bones back. Roman quickens his step at _that_ notion, slinging himself around the building,

"You there uce?"

Unfortunately though, like the office before it, there is no sign nor any single trace of him there and despite it still being technically possible that they're missing one another in some comedy style skit, it's starting to feel like it might be something deeper and it prickles Roman's neck with a tiny shiver.

 _Shit_.

Rummaging around in the pocket of his sweatpants, Roman pulls out his brand new phone and pulls up the name that he dials the most often. Or second most often alongside his mom. Dean is listed beneath the contact _little brother_ and has recently been assigned a special ringtone of his own, that the two had downloaded from some company somewhere and which comprises a synthetic sounding motorbike roar. Roman's call tone on Dean's phone is a lion and he likes that fact more than he is willing to let on because lions are protective and fierce and regal.

Besides, one out of three of those things isn't a bad score.

Tapping his fingers in impatience across his hipbone, Roman turns and stalks his way back towards the gym, muttering into the small device deeply as he listens to it ringing,

"Come on brother, pick up now."

Another few buzzes leads the call straight to voicemail and the big man blows a breath out and drops his cell down. He isn't really sure what the rational next step is but it isn't like the kid could have gotten too far which means there is no damn need for him to panic. Or at least not until he has done another thorough search, on the off chance that the kid is simply tucked in some corner and his older brother missed him on the first go around. Although it doesn't stop Roman from dialing him repeatedly whilst grilling passing workers,

"You seen uce?"

"Sorry man."

He's on the top floor when at last the call is answered and as the ringing clicks off he shucks out a breath, letting his eyes slide shut for a second although his total relief ends up being short lived, since the voice that replies is by no means his brother and has the gall to sound frustrated,

" _Yeah, what do you want_?"

Roman blinks,

"Who is this?"

" _Pretty sure I asked you first man_."

His fists clench on instinct,

"Why do you have my brother's phone?"

" _Brother_?"

There's a fumble then a _shit_ in the background and it's clear that the speaker is very lightly freaking out, which in hindsight is fine since all things told so is Roman, because why in the hell does Dean not have his cell and why is somebody picking his calls up?

If Dean is in the gym how in the world has been mugged?

Something in the older man tenses a little and the shiver from earlier ripples again, pricking his newly formed big brother senses and sending them crashing over the edge of a cliff. There's nothing else for it but that Dean is in trouble although Roman cannot work out where or what type. On top of which Dean is like his veritable shadow and given everything that's happened, likes to keep him in plain sight. It is also why someone else answering his cell phone fills Roman almost instantly with worry and dread because Dean loves his phone – a birthday gift from their parents – meaning no one would take it from the teen without a fight.

The voice comes back,

" _Fuck you man_ – ,"

Roman bellows,

"What have you done to my brother? Answer me."

If it were possible to reach across the phone line then he would do it and throttle the speaker with his hands, but since he can't he is forced to simply hover and wait for an answer.

Please god –

" _Nothin' man. I swear, I ain't done nothin', I found this thing on the street alright_?"

"Where?"

The guy stutters out a random location and Roman assumes he's being taken for a ride because the place he names is at least three blocks over so what in the hell would Dean be doing way out there? He grumbles unhappily,

"You must think I'm an idiot."

His call buddy snorts idly,

" _C' mon man, y' think I care? I found this piece 'a crap all smashed, so as I see it –_ ,"

Roman cuts in,

"Smashed?"

" _Screen's all cracked, still works okay though, finders keepers am I right man_?"

His reply is a growl that is so damn feral that it actually makes Roman's rumbling vocal cords hurt, although it isn't important since Dean is still missing and if the noise gets him answers then he will gladly shred his throat.

"If you've put so much as a single hand on him, then I swear to god – ,"

The other person sort of huffs but there's a tiny hitch as well like the speaker is rattled and it makes their tone rise up several octaves in response,

" _I didn't do shit, holy_ _fuck_."

Roman buys it –

He doesn't precisely know why, but he does. Because the voice simply doesn't belong to a murderer besides which would a mugger have even picked the call up? Maybe a very brazen asshole would do it but the person he is speaking to doesn't sound much like that and doubtfully even has the mental capacity to summon up the effort for doing much besides drugs. The problem with that though is that it triggers more questions since Roman still doesn't know why Dean's phone is so adrift and even assuming the speaker is lying, there is still the clear cut fact that someone has the kid's cell.

Truth saunters past, humming idly like always and Roman flails a hand in his direction,

"Seen uce yet?"

"Not that I recall boss, you still lookin'?"

Roman nods mildly and his employee blinks back, seemingly noting the tensely held shoulders and the growing desperation, which kills the levity stone dead and evidently throws the older man into go-mode because the next thing Roman knows, Truth is clapping his hands,

"Don't worry big dog, I'll get the team together and we'll search this place top to bottom, y' hear?"

"Thanks."

"We'llfind him and then we'll all kick his ass for scaring us."

Roman snorts weakly,

"Sounds like a plan."

For a moment he forgets the cell clamped to his earlobe and so therefore almost starts when the maybe-mugger speaks up, still sounding terse like his night is being ruined but looking for direction,

" _So can I keep this thing or what_?"

Roman grits his teeth,

"Listen to me closely, I need you to take the phone to the cops."

The other guy snorts and then hangs up abruptly before evidently turning the much loved device off. Or maybe it dies. Roman isn't really certain and doesn't really care beyond one simple fact –

He's lost the cell phone and his little brother.

But only one of those things he would kill to get back.

* * *

 **Poor Roman, I mean, he takes his eyes off the kid for ten seconds and** _ **poof**_ **, he vanishes! Next chapter we get back to Dean again and reveal a few more things...**


	13. Thirteen

**Back we go to poor old Dean then and I would totally apologise for all the crap I throw at him if it weren't for the fact I know you love it deep down! As ever your reviews mean the actual world to me!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Haha, your faith in Roman wanting to kill Jerry is totally mirrored by Dean in this chapter too! Obviously the both of you believe in the Big Dog and his propensity to transition into a vengeful Samoan rage! Protective Roman is everything though, am I right?!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, I'm going to be mean here and say there** _ **is**_ **no way for them to find Dean...yet. But safe to say they know he's missing and they have pretty firm guesses as to who took him too. Papa Reigns is totally not happy...but wait, that's the next chapter and I'm giving it away, d'oh!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Aww, thank you, we're heading back to Dean's perspective for this one, so if you don't like the poor kid being hauled around and frightened, then all I can say is look away now (but if you're a sadist like me...then enjoy!)**

 **Mandy, I love you much you feel for Teen Dean. I'm afraid he's going to be in trouble for a little bit longer though, oh and he might get another surprise in this one too (hopefully you all will, maybe, I'm not sure anymore) because let's just say relationships change!**

 **Minnie1015, Well, you should know by now that angsty stories are my speciality...I'm actually thinking of having some business cards made up. Okay, only kidding but I seriously cannot envisage a day where Roman freaking out about his brother isn't the most amazing thing to write!**

 **Skovko, Make that more like 'angry Samoan family' incoming because, let me tell you, in the next chapter they are all pissed. But yeah, big brother Roman is currently at the head of the you-touch-my-kid-you-die based queue with Papa Reigns a close second behind!**

 **Rebel8954, Yep, Jerry certainly has his 'genius' plan all lined up, but let's not blame him, he's not too bright, which probably makes him pretty dangerous on the flipside. Gonna delve a little deeper into his dynamic in this one, or at least his dynamic with a certain someone else...**

 **Wwe21, Don't worry, life gets busy sometimes. Glad you're all caught up now though! Actually the person who found Dean's phone is a random bystander, so since he's not going to be reappearing in this story again, let's say it was Seth! Why not huh?!**

 **Here we go then.**

* * *

 **Thirteen.**

Dean spends most of the car journey gasping and squirming like an eel while struggling to breathe. Jerry swats at him from where he's perched high on his ass cheeks and on one or two occasions he even brandishes the gun, but it gets to the point where Dean cannot just sit there and let his mother's asshole boyfriend force them both off.

He has to fight.

He has to get them out of there.

Or at least give enough time for Roman to arrive.

In spite of that though and the fact he keeps wriggling he ends up being thwarted by the fact that he's pinned down and so is therefore only able to brace his arms against the fabric or try to flail backwards to catch Jerry with a hit.

The worst of it all is he's done seven months of boxing and Roman even tells him he's getting pretty good, but at no point have they covered what to do or how to get out of it when a man four times his size is camped out on his lower spine and which is probably why he resorts to simply shouting –

Cussing as well.

"Get the fuck _off_."

Jerry leans down and grabs his ear harshly, twisting it until Dean lets out a yelp and then crushing it between his damn meaty fingers as the teen scrabbles at him and tries to pry him loose,

"You shut the hell up."

Dean's mother stays silent throughout the duration, simply driving in accordance with her boyfriend's commands and not even once stepping in to defend him which Dean can't really figure. Although maybe she's scared? Possibly she knows that by being defiant she will get them both into an even deeper kind of shit and so is doing the only wise thing she can possibly think of by going through the motions.

Dean grits his teeth.

"Roman's gonna kick your ass for touchin' me."

Jerry chuckles,

"Don't worry kid, I _want_ Roman to know."

The sentence bites at and then shivers right through him and tremors on down through his flattened feeling bones. There's something in the tone that doesn't sit easy and although it involves his brother, Dean is worried about how. Not that he really has the chance to think much on it before his kidnapper leans forward towards his mother.

"We're here."

He clambers from his captive perhaps a half a second later and the kid inhales deeply and lies face-first feeling numb. The air that rushes back into his system is beautiful but dazes him to the point that it feels like a drug, which means that he is still not doing much more than coughing when the back door flings open and he is roughly dragged out.

"Shit – ,"

Dean hits the ground on his kneecaps harshly and then hisses in pain as the concrete bites his skin, searing a gravelly discomfort through his sweatpants which are meant to be for running and not getting abducted in. Jerry tugs roughly at the collar of the work shirt and Dean's heart lurches when he hears a little rip.

Not his shirt.

His shirt means belonging.

He's on his feet and swinging before he realizes he is and flailing in general as his mother shouts behind him in angry sounding tones at one or maybe both of them.

" _Stop_."

He lands himself a pretty solid blow to the stomach that makes his asshole kidnapper splutter and cough and then grins in raw pride at having caused real damage –

Right up until a meaty paw slams into his eye.

 _Smack_.

For a second the dusky light spots across his vision and a sharp icy pain blooms like lightning throughout his skull, focussing in across the ridge of his cheek bone and then drilling right down until he can't speak at all. The hurt of the blow is pretty much horrendous but it isn't really new.

He's had a black eye before –

Lots of them in truth, so it isn't the ache of it that stuns him but instead the sudden nausea of being stuck there again. Of being right back in the middle of the messed up situation where someone far bigger is laying fists into him, with nobody else who will help or protect him and nothing else to do but try to breathe through the pain.

"Little _fucker_."

Jerry grips tighter and cinches in the collar until the air can't get in. He's choking him out and Dean feels like he might die there, which would be a damn shame since he doesn't know what for and would be even worse in not getting to tell Reigns' just how much he loves them.

Mom, Pop and sisters too –

But most of all his big brother Roman who has moved the damn earth to make sure that he is safe. Which he _had_ been until his erstwhile mother had shown up and thrown it all to total shit.

Somehow she simply had to fuck it up.

Luckily though, in terms of his future and not being strangled to death on the floor, Dean ends up being oddly grateful for his mother who yells across the distance with a shriek.

"That's enough."

If he wasn't on the verge of blacking out totally, then the teenager might be surprised by the tone of her voice, which actually borders very mildly on assertive and is a timbre he hasn't really heard from her before. Likely though it is driven by panic and it certainly works since Jerry loosens his fists and gradually the beautiful air flows back in again.

Dean wheezes like a smoker.

 _Thank god for that man_.

As his battered vision clears he gets a look at his surroundings and their sheer isolation makes his stomach sort of lurch, because they seem to have pulled into a broken down repair lot that looks utterly unloved and even worse, not overlooked.

Dean draws a breath in,

"Hel – ,"

He doesn't get too far because Jerry slams a big paw over his lips and cuts the hopeful yell into a pathetic little half word that doesn't really work and doesn't even make sense. The gun appears briefly and presses into Dean's temple and every last part of the teenager rolls. He's _seen_ guns of course because he's from a shitty neighborhood but he has certainly never been held up with one before and not by a man who seems to hate him anyway and is right on the edge.

Dean's plea is muffled,

"Lemme go."

Jerry snorts then brushes the gun across his temple in a way so that the barrel strokes a path through Dean's hair and the teenager actually shivers in reply to it and then swiftly wishes that it was Mama Reigns instead, teasing her fingers through his fly away birds nest in a way that can and _will_ only ever mean love.

He blinks and his captor is right back front and centre,

"No fuckin' chance, get moving, come on."

They troop as a threesome right into the repair shop, with Dean still being essentially hauled and with Jerry's big coarse sweaty palm across his jawline in case he unwisely attempts again to call out. Dean's mother flanks them with quick a little canter which he figures is because she wants to keep her son close and try to protect him as much as she is able in case things take a downturn and go even more to hell.

Once inside Jerry drags him over to a window which is set high, industrial and covered with grime and which matches the rest of the airy space completely because the general interior is musty and forlorn. He isn't really sure where Jerry had come across it unless there's some sort of webpage Dean's not heard of before, where big abandoned buildings are put up and listed as criminal hideouts or kidnapping joints. Maybe during the six months the pair have been local, his mother's asshole boyfriend has been scoping places out and spending his free time scouring empty units in the hopes that one of them will just make something click. Dean's not too sold on what settled it for this place but there's one thing for sure –

It where they're stopping for now.

He stumbles on a tire iron left in the concrete and then winces at the terrible throb around his eye. Far from being cold it has started to boil as all the blood from his face is rerouted up. He doesn't even really want to think about what he looks like and neither does his birth mom since she won't look his way. His feet feel sluggish and his head spins a little and so when Jerry shoves him down against a wall he merely stays.

The big hands come down once again and start to fumble and there's a distant sort of jangling that the kid can't work out –

Although it suddenly becomes clear as a cuff snaps round his ankle and then drags his foot to secure the whole thing to a pipe, which snakes from the ground and joins up to a radiator which is solid and old.

Dean seizes up.

 _Shit_.

He kicks out and struggles but the shackle is unflinching and so doesn't even vaguely shift around his foot, instead merely scrapping the metal links loudly like nails on a chalkboard up and down the tiny pipe.

"What the – let me outta here."

He can't help but sound frightened and Jerry grins above him and then drops into a squat, hanging in eerily close to his captive and chuckling to the point that Dean can smell the boozy breath and also close enough that it turns the kid's stomach.

He tries to lash out, but he doesn't have the reach.

Jerry snorts,

"Nice try, but you look a little stuck there."

"Fuck you."

"Nah, I think I might leave that to your mom."

 _Mom_.

At the sound of the word Dean quickly looks over because how is he meant to protect the poor woman now and how in the hell are they going to get out of there if their chunky abductor handcuffs _her_ to the wall too? She is standing not more than a handful of feet anyway from them and stroking her arms because the auto shop is cold and as usual she is wearing little more than a thin dress which barely grazes her pale and skinny thighs. Jerry wanders across and Dean tenses fiercely,

"Hey asshole, don't touch her."

But the sentence sort of dies, because not only does the kidnapper not treat her harshly but he grabs her by the shoulders and smooches her hard, to which his mom responds by throwing arms around him and humming into the contact.

What the hell is going on?

They break apart giggling like a couple of schoolkids and Jerry reaches in and brushes back the red hair, which has lightly been ruffled under the force of their kissing and makes her smile grow wide,

"We did it baby."

Dean blinks.

Huh?

Far from being jittery or frightened by their ordeal, his mother seems to be pretty weirdly pumped up. The sinking sensation that has been growing gets stronger and the teenager's mouth falls open,

"M-mom?"

No.

There is no way in hell that she can actually be a part of it because she's meant to be his _mother_ so couldn't possibly be that cruel, although as she looks across her face seems to confirm it because although she looks embarrassed she is grinning as well.

Jerry snorts roughly,

"You poor little bastard, thought you were protectin' her beaten ass, huh?"

Tears fill Dean's eyes and he paws them off harshly since there is no way in hell he will let them see him cry. He doesn't do it well though and one slides down his cheekbone and makes his growing bruise twinge to which her chest makes a hitch. Something drifts over her expression for a moment but is gone in an instant as Jerry returns, turning what looks like a video camera over in vague confusion in his big meaty hand.

"Now let's see how this piece of shit works then."

Dean's own phone had been ripped out of his pocket and thrown from the window as they had wound towards their hide and is therefore lying in a gutter likely shattered and feeling unloved like he is as well. It makes his heart break though because that phone had been a present from the parents that loved him.

He coughs a sentence out towards the woman,

"You bitch."

Then he attempts to surge in towards her on his hands and scuffed knees but doesn't get very far as the tug of the cuffs and the grate of steel reminds him as it twists at his ankle and makes more angry tears fall. In response to it his mother steps away from him a little, almost like she's being barked at by a rabid junkyard dog but again there is a flicker of emotion on her features which implies that she feels maybe vaguel _y_ upset.

"Listen son – ,"

 _Son_.

He actually snarls at her, spitting the words fiercely and meaning every one.

"I'm _not_ your son, I have real parents and you ain't one of 'em."

Jerry barks out,

"Aha."

It makes them both jump with differing alarm bells but as it turns out the chubby asshole has merely worked the camera out and straps it to his hand grinning like he's a genius before flicking the red button and creeping over towards Dean. He's wearing a smirk and it makes the teen shudder because whatever he's trying to film it isn't going to be good. The auto shop around them falls silent yet suspenseful and it makes the voice echo,

"C' mon boy, say hello to mom and dad."

* * *

 **Soooo...thoughts on Dean's mom being a part of the plan? Firstly, did you see it coming and secondly how do you feel about her now?**

 **Next chapter, we're going back to see how the Reigns are handling things and what their plan of action is going to be...**


	14. Fourteen

**Ooh, lots of reviews last time, I love you guys! Friday's post is going to be put up early in the morning btw because I'm going away for the weekend (first time in years I get to pack a suitcase and unwind yay!)**

 **Sodapop25, Haha, thank you and thank you for being one of my regulars too! Got some angry Papa Reigns coming your way in this one, so hold on tight (also, plenty of angst!)**

 **Raze Olympus, Oooh, you got me, I obviously made his mom way too transparent although I genuinely couldn't decide for a while whether to make Mama Ambrose a hopeless pawn or a devil witch...clearly however I ended up going with the last one! Absolute wankers!**

 **Skovko, Come on now, three angry Samoan Reigns sisters verses one poor skinny drug addled woman? That hardly seems fair (hilarious but not fair!) Besides, who's to say one of the Reigns women doesn't lay the smack down on her, hmmmm? *Walks off whistling***

 **Wolfgirl2013, Yep, total yikes and then a few yikes more. I'm back to usual thing of whumping poor Dean again. He gets no rest from me even when he's a poor child. On the plus side though, that mean lots of worried family and this chapter has a load of that!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Ah, but in Squeaker she was Mama Moxley and...okay...they're basically the same and they both suck big ones! I'm also writing something else where she's not that great. By the time I post everything up, it'll read like I have some sort of vendetta!**

 **Mandy, Aww, don't be sad. I promise to bring Dean back sort of safely, even if he is a bit battered and bruised, I'll dust him off for you and everything! But yeah, Dean's birth mom isn't a patch on Mama Reigns and that is kind of what this story is all about. Mama Reigns rocks!**

 **Minnie1015, Oh god, we're too similar. There was nothing that I was more excited to write than Dean's new family watching him getting roughed around on tape. Is there something wrong with us?! Ah well, everyone needs a hobby, am I right? Hope this chapter lives up to the hype.**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Haha, cursing totally accepted given the current Teen Dean danger situation. Yep, his birth mother is now beyond redemption and right up there with his father vying for first place in the Crappy Parent of the Year Awards. As for the Reigns? Well, this chapter is** _ **all**_ **them…**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Yeah, I'm assuming at this point that Papa Reigns has a therapist on retainer for the kid and who might be putting a few extra sessions once this is all done! Glad you're not totally against his mother, get a bit more out of her in a chapters too.**

 **Wwe21, Well done for seeing through sneaky Mama Ambrose. But even though she was clearly evil, I think we can forgive Dean for wanting to see the best in her.. If you're wondering how he's going to be found however, here are a few hints in this chapter coming up.**

 **HannonsPen, Not a backstory on Jerry and Dean's mom no, I'm not sure I ever worked out how they got together, other than like attracting like! I mentioned in one chapter that she saw Dean in the paper advertising the gym, so I figure she saw $ signs from there. She's a lovely woman!**

 **Meanwhile, back at the Reigns' house...**

* * *

 **Fourteen.**

Possibly as a result of the clout of the _Reigns Corp_ , the police turn up at Roman's parents' house pretty fast and at the same time dispatch a whole army of patrol cars to search and evidently examine the gym.

It is five hours now since Dean first went missing.

The world is in chaos.

Well, theirs is at least.

Not that the eldest son pays much attention because for the most part Roman's head is in a god damn _tailspin_ to the point where he cannot even physically remember getting into the car and driving over to their house. But evidently he has, because there he is installed at the counter and sipping the sweet tea his mom is keenly dolling out, trying her best to keep herself busy as her hands shake wildly and she stifles down sobs. His father is beside him, fists clenched on the counter and glaring at the detectives who have been sent across to help.

His voice is a growl,

"I just want my damn son back."

The lady cop nods and then swallows,

"We know and believe me we're doing everything we can to find him."

Papa Reigns snorts,

"Is that right, such as what?"

It seems funny in a way that when faced with a crisis the older man almost instantly reverts to business mode and adopts all the similar bluster and fury that he does when he is hashing out a problematic deal or attempting to negotiate a better price on a building.

Maybe it will help things, maybe it won't.

The policeman blinks like she's gathering her patience and then attempts to nod her head gently again, which is possibly some type of aggression quelling gesture that they teach at the academy but won't work on his old man, who simply grips a grizzled paw around his tea mug and then squeezes so tight the damn china nearly breaks,

" _Well_?"

The second detective sighs,

"In cases such as this one – ,"

Roman's father cuts in quickly,

"Kidnappings you mean?"

There is a momentary pause and the cops exchange quick glances before the second licks his lips and suicidally carries on, clearly either choosing to overlook the danger or simply not seeing it. Evidently the guy isn't overly smart.

"In cases where a teenager has recently gone missing – ,"

The patriarch slams his fist down,

"God damn it he's been grabbed."

Roman's mother swings in and presses lightly on his shoulder, her lips wobbling fiercely as she chokes back broken sobs. Her voice is a whisper and while it's usually not a bellow it sounds even softer than it regularly does and is clearly so desolate that it soothes her husband's anger and he fumbles up a hand to take hers in his own.

The detective sighs again,

"We're just exploring every option."

But Roman knows exactly what train of thought they're on and it shivers clean through him like a stab to the gullet because they pretty much think that Dean has merely run off and is being a troublesome teenage boy somewhere and scaring his family halfway to death. Except for the fact that Dean would never do that and isn't just any other mixed up street kid. He's much more than that and he's also fiercely loyal, which Roman needs the cops in front of him to realize and so fights down his helplessness,

"He never goes far, he doesn't like being away from me for too long."

The cop quirks a brow,

"Uh huh, why is that?"

"Because I rescued him from a bad situation and he feels safe with me."

He's never said it out loud before, but somehow the act of putting words to it makes it potent and seems to heighten the swirling sense of hurt. Because Dean is _not_ safe and whatever is happening, Roman wasn't there to stop the shit from going down.

His one job in life is to keep Dean protected.

He shuts his eyes and his mother grips his arm, grounding him even as she breaks into pieces and just generally reminding him of how much she rocks and why she's the mother that Dean has always needed. Not the hopeless one who has stolen him off. Because at this point that is what they all believe without question, because who the hell else could have lured him away and who would damn well _want_ to or even have the motive but the couple who had been pushing for the kid to go and stay? The couple who had been told in a glare of a statement that the teenager was in no way about to leave the Reigns' home and who had then gone into hiding and not been in contact.

Roman blows a breath out.

It has to be them.

They've told the police that – on the phone and in person – but clearly the officers aren't taking that route and instead are still treating the kid as a runaway, although the female cop at least has the decency to nod,

"We'll take that into account."

His father grumbles back at her,

"What you should be doing is tracking that woman down."

Clearly they are working on some sort of telepathy and in the moment that makes Roman feel weirdly sort of proud because his father is a pretty damn gigantic force of nature and if he carries even _some_ of it then folk had better watch out. In response to it the male officer bites a weary sigh back then tips a hand over,

"We've got patrols out right now, so if she is involved – ,"

"Of course she is."

"If she is involved somewhere, then we'll be able to get to the bottom of things, alright?"

The patronizing tone and the word the cop chooses almost tips the older man almost completely off the edge and leaves the two syllables ringing around them like a goading little echo. Roman's father dives off the cliff,

"It is not _alright_ you jumped up jobsworth, in fact I have a mind to – ,"

Fortunately he stops, forced into silence by a tentative sounding knocking that bounces in from the hallway and makes Roman race for the door,

"Uce?"

He's into the entrance before the officers can stop him, although even if they'd tried he would have shaken them off, because Dean might be out there just a foot or two away from him and so he isn't slowing down for anyone without a fight.

"Roman, wait."

He flings the door open, his heart pumping wildly, fully braced to drag the kid back into his arms and tousle the hair and give him a lecture about scaring them to death –

But the teen isn't there.

Nobody is.

The front step is empty, although as he stares in silence there is the roar of a car and the screech of tires from outside, at which point the detectives flash past on either side of him, one of them gabbling fast into a radio and the other one rapidly drawing out his gun. They pound across the threshold and just miss the parcel which at some point has been dumped on the cheery welcome mat and Roman bends down to pick it up feeling baffled.

"All units, all units, grey sedan heading north, licence plate obscured, one male driver – ,"

She shouts a little more but for the most part it is lost and instead it is down to Roman's poor breathless parents to attempt to re-establish his connection to the world, which his father does by dropping down a hand onto his shoulder and frowning at the package,

"What's that son?"

Roman shakes his head,

"It was left on the doorstep."

His mother is all confusion,

"By who?"

But the answer to that seems pretty damn obvious and so Roman wastes little time in opening it up, tearing off the badly applied tape from the top of it and then tipping the rectangular feeling contents into his hand. It thuds out heavily and a corner digs into him but the pain of the movement is mostly masked by the surprise because staring back up is a video cassette tape with a sticker in the middle and an order –

 _Watch this_.

Somewhere back out on the kerb in the darkness the cops are barking and seemingly directing the rest of the force, but suddenly it seems like the action is staring up at them, contained within the footage. Roman spins around at once, his father flanking his each movement closely as they stalk across the tiles and right into the lounge, leaving his mother to flag the detectives with the worrisome shout,

"We might have something here."

By the time the two cops and older woman are back with them, Roman has fired the television into life and inserted the tape with a click of the runners as his father works the buttons. The male detective frowns,

"What – ,"

"Sssh."

Possibly as a result of the fatherly missive or else the deathly look, the guy shuts up at once and instead stands silently next to his partner as the video comes to life and fills the room up,

"I told you so."

The snort is issued by Roman's father in response to the face that appears on the screen, holding the camera so close to scruffy features that his individual chin hairs take up the whole thing. Roman curls his fists and then growls instinctively because the person they are looking at is Jerry and no mistake, chuckling into the lens like an idiot and highlighting stained and pretty badly yellowed teeth,

" _First off, I don't want no cops involved in this one_ – ,"

His opening point is already moot although perhaps if he had gotten the damn tape to them earlier they might have agreed, but it's far too late now.

" _Second, I got your boy and I ain't givin' him back to you until I get a little somethin' in return, you hear?_ "

He turns the camera away from his expression and it sweeps in jerky fashion across an empty looking space, which is probably some sort of long abandoned warehouse of which there are too many in the city to count. Assuming of course that they are still in the city –

Roman's attention are drawn back by a gasp.

It echoes out from somewhere over his shoulder and without even looking he knows it's from his mom and he knows that whatever she's seen has upset her, which is why he winces slightly and very slowly glances up.

" _C' mon boy, say hello to mom and dad now_."

His brother is suddenly filling the screen, sat on the floor with his back to the drywall and glaring into the camera with a shimmering hate. There's a cuff around his ankle keeping him in position and the blue eyes scream terror.

Or one does anyway –

The other one is slitted and horribly swollen and there's a gut-wrenching band of blooming purple around his cheek. It's obvious that the kid has been beaten at some point and with a right hook that sends Roman back in time a bit, conjuring memories of their very first meeting nine months earlier.

He'd had a black eye then as well.

" _Now, I kinda figure that you might want your kid back, so here's what I'm gonna need you good people to do. I want five hundred thousand in cash by eight tomorrow and I want the little lady of the house to be the mule_ – ,"

Dean's eyes widen,

" _No mom, don't do it_."

Roman's mother wavers and then whimpers again as Jerry turns round and gives Dean a backhander that turns his uninjured cheek a bright shade of red. Dean lets out a yelp and claps a palm to it but to his absolute credit doesn't show the pain more and simply bites down on his lip to stop from screaming at which point his older brother drives an angry fist into the floor.

Jerry carries on,

" _I'll send my lady round to get it, the park over on second, pretty sure you know the one and remember, if you people try anything tricky, I've still got your precious little baby right here and he's got some fingers m' pretty sure he doesn't need much and I've got pliers_ – ,"

Horror shivers through Dean's orbs and Roman's heart breaks into about a thousand pieces because the teenager simply doesn't deserve beatings any more or the fear or any further damn trauma.

How much is it possible for one kid to endure?

The video clicks off as Jerry makes a gun gesture and the room falls into silence again. It takes a few second but Roman's father sucks a breath in and shifts his position,

"They're asking for a lot, guess I'd better start making some calls then."

He doesn't add a testy sounding _do you believe us now_ but the officers' expressions convey that regardless and the male cop coughs and then beats the guilt back,

"Ma'am, I know it's hard but we can't let you do this."

He's talking to Roman's mother who is shaking and teary-eyed, not to mention very likely on the verge of a nervous breakdown, which her son wouldn't even remotely blame her for because it's so hard to see Dean looking so small and helpless. On hearing the command though, her expression flickers,

"What?"

"I said we can't let you go out there and do it."

"Well that's what you think."

She huffs a bit at that and in terms of who she is and her usual mannerisms and sweetness-and-light thing, it's a kickass response and it makes both Roman and his father stare in wonder because there's no one quite like her anywhere in the world.

"Ma'am – ,"

"Don't give me that, my child is being tortured and this is a way I can actually help."

"But – ,"

"Enough, I don't care what might be for the best here, I'm going and I defy anybody to hold me back."

Nobody does and quite frankly they don't dare to because the woman is on the warpath –

She is saving her son.

* * *

 **I guess it's worth saying that when I started this story, Mama Reigns was only going to be a bit character at best but then she (and Papa Reigns) bloomed into something else and in this story she is definitely going to get her day!**

 **Next chapter, we're going back to poor Dean again and we find out a little more about what's been going on...**


	15. Fifteen

**So, I am officially now off on a tiny mini-break (sooo excited, it's been ten years) hence this chapter being up at the crack of dawn here! I still get internet though, so as ever, reviews very much welcomed and I'll be back to post the next one as usual Sunday night (barring disaster and also if anyone has time to read it in between the 8 year long Wrestlemania we've got coming up! Come on Dean, make a surprise appearance already and put us out of our misery with a Shield reunion, huh?!)**

 **Sodapop25, Aww, thank you honey! And in return please accept this latest update good and hours ahead of schedule for once! Hope you enjoy it!**

 **Skovko, Yep, Jerry is not a very smart man. He is many other things however...I just probably shouldn't mention them here! Hmmm, your suspicions on Dean's mother might be right...but as ever you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, I love Mama and Papa Bear Reigns. Especially Papa Bear Reigns. He's not very good at showing his affection, so I figure the way you know he cares is if he gets all angry for you! Hope you're still keeping that cold at bay btw.**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Mama Reigns spearing Mama Ambrose would be hilarious. But just because she isn't in the spearing mood, doesn't mean she won't get to be badass! New Shield Taskforce story coming after this one and a new Dean and Lauren from next Monday.**

 **Mandy, Aw, thank you so much. I'm worried about leaving my mum for those few days but I can't deny I'm really looking forward to trying to be normal for a little while. Oh Mama Reigns totally rocks, to the point I wish I could magic her up to potter around here and look after me!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Thank you, I certainly aim to please. Hope you like this one. If you're a fan of Teen Dean angst (or Dean angst in general) then this one is pretty much all for you!**

 **Minnie1015, Haha, gotta have an allusion to Roman's superman punch in there somewhere right? Figured it was best if he didn't do it though, since he would probably have knocked out a policeman! Mama Reigns gets her big moment next chapter...she's earned it too.**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Papa Reigns being assertive and calling Dean 'my son' was actually such a cute thing to write. He hasn't had the chance to shine as much as Mama, so I liked be able to show he cared. Yeah, Roman is taking it all pretty hard. Probably just as well he can't see this chapter then…**

 **HannonsPen, Jerry is not bright and hasn't thought things through! Aww, glad you love teen Dean, he's my absolute favourite beaten up version of our boy! Oh my goodness, I thought you said you collected shotguns! Shotglasses are probably easier for me to get through customs!**

 **Back to Dean...**

* * *

 **Fifteen.**

The entire left side of Dean's face is on fire –

Or certainly feels like it is anyway, with a band of agony spreading from his cheekbone in a wave of heat towards the bridge of his nose. Once it's there it tracks a hot path upwards, sweeping painfully over the arch of his eye and then linking up to the space on his temple where it had started in the first place.

A perfect bullseye of hurt.

His cheek smarts too on the other side of his features but is more a tender sting than a deep seated throb and he can feel his heartbeat physically _within_ it like he can with the continually swelling black eye. In total – he works out – it has been nine months exactly since he has taken a full man-sized fist to the face and the shock of how total and soul destroying the pain is pretty much knocks him senseless.

Has it always been this bad?

Maybe having been so loved and protected for the best part of a year has made him kind of soft. Although the more he thinks back to life with his father, the more he realizes that the beatings have always hurt and always rattled right down into his system and sent his guts churning because being hit is just _wrong_. No one at all should be kicking his ass around and getting that less frequently does not make him soft. Besides, how the hell does a person get used to the feeling of callous knuckles hitting delicate skin?

He sucks in a breath that draws Jerry's attention and then flinches when the bastard drags a grubby chair across. The asshole is grinning because he still thinks it's funny and the widely drawn lips make Dean's hairs prickle up and while the last thing he wants to do is make small talk, with his ankle still cuffed he has precious little choice.

In total they've been locked in the auto shop all night and in all that time Dean has been moved only once, when his bladder had almost damn burst in his sweatpants and he had finally been unclipped to go and piss up the wall. It had meant stepping back into the open for a minute and once again the teenager had debated calling out or maybe perhaps making a break through the darkness and trying to escape –

But the gun had kept him stalled.

Through the following hours as he had sat in his corner, shivering in his work shirt in the surprisingly frigid air, he had cursed himself for not taking the initiative but then he didn't want the Reigns' to find his body somewhere. A week or maybe two weeks later, riddled with bullets from where he'd tried to run off rather than just sitting and waiting for them to save him.

Which they would.

He _knew_ they would because that was what they did.

At some point as the grey light of dawn had crept around again, he had woken from an unwitting nap with a jolt, every last muscle in his body screaming at him and begging to be stretched or for comfort of some sort. Through his addled mind he had been dimly aware of voices and had looked up to find his two abductors entwined and talking quietly over by the doorway.

His mother had a coat on and was carrying a bag.

" _Listen baby, you'll be great, you hear me_?"

Jerry had been giving her a pep talk of sorts and in turn the teenager's stomach had flipped over because he knew that she'd been heading to go and pick the ransom up.

" _I'll call you if anything goes wrong_."

" _Better not had_."

Then she had given him a kiss and been gone and time had continued to tick past slowly with every single second of it turning Dean's heart and gradually shifting a beam of sun across the hideout that he had crept his toes into before savoring the warmth. Blowing a second breath out and trying not to sound shaky or pay any attention to his captor's glinting eyes, Dean shifts his cramped up position just a fraction and then winces as the blood flows back into his ass.

The voice makes him jump,

"Gettin' kinda cramped boy?"

It isn't concern that drives the question but glee and a strange sort of kick that his mother's asshole boyfriend seems to derive from seeing the teenager in pain. Dean glares back and it draws another chuckle because apparently abduction is some big fucking joke and the whole thing makes him so god damn angry that he snaps two words out with loathing,

"Fuck you."

Over the hours it has become his standard sentence to the point where his captor just sort of shrugs it off and which is evidenced by the ways he tips his head sideways and furrows his brows,

"What the hell do they see in you?"

"Huh?"

Since it isn't exactly the response he's expecting, the question catches Dean pretty much by surprise and the teenager's own eyes knit in together as he struggles to unravel the snarky sounding aside. Jerry sits back, resting the gun on his kneecap and then stretches out his legs in a way the boy cannot, which is either a natural, unconscious sort of movement or else a cruel reminder.

Possibly both.

"I _said_ what the fuck does that filthy rich family see in a crappy stray dog like you?"

Dean's fists clench fiercely,

"They – they love me."

"You better hope they do, else I won't need you anymore."

In response the teen blinks and a shiver travels through him that mingles with the painful throbbing pulsing in his bones and shows up visibly even though he tries to fight it because he doesn't want the kidnapper to think that he's won. In his head he is screaming for the comfort of his bedroom or the couch in the office on which he often crashes out. Both of those places being safe and protected and surrounded by the things and the people he loves.

 _Love_.

It's the one thing in all of it that he no longer questions because the whole damn Reigns family has given him so much and never once asked for anything in return for it, which means that it must be the real and selfless sort. Somehow they just see some vestige of something in him that makes him worthy of being given nice stuff and getting warm hugs and hair touslings and kisses.

They make him feel like he's not a piece of trash.

Despite that though there's no denying the ransom and _holy crap_ what a ransom it is. Like his mother and her partner think that Papa Reigns sleeps on banknotes or keeps half a million dollars at the house just for kicks. What do they even need that kind of dough for?

Drugs debts?

Probably but it's still a whole lot and will set them for life if his parents hand it over. Which Dean very tentatively hopes that they won't. Not because he wants to be tossed into the river or beaten to death or whatever else he'll get, but because he doesn't want the business to suffer or the wider corporation lose out due to his shit.

Jerry checks his watch,

"Huh, eight on the button, your mom should be picking up the money right now."

"She's _isn't_ my mother."

"Records say different."

Dean glowers back,

"She gave birth to me, that's all."

He means it completely because the redhead is now lost to him and doesn't mean anything in either love or parental terms. She had her chance and she blew it from the water not once but twice. There is no _third time's the charm_. On top of which his absentee asshole of a mother has made it more than clear she doesn't care about him and so Dean has resolved to wipe his feelings for her completely for the second damn time in just sixteen years.

Besides, it isn't like he actually needs her because he has a mother now and she is all he could want. Mama Reigns is both generous and effortlessly loving and there is nobody better.

His heart freezes.

 _Mama Reigns_.

On the garbled little tape they had recorded the ransom, one of the stipulations was for her to be the mule, which was clearly because they assumed she'd be less trouble than the family's male members.

They're probably right.

But what _that_ means is that his cunning birth mother is somewhere in the city facing down his sweet mom and the thought of something terrible happening to her makes him suddenly feel nauseous and breathless all at once. He cannot focus and thoughts tear through his brainstem along with brutal images of what might go wrong and he fights them down and shakes his head fiercely, before looking up broken and with tearful blue eyes,

"Please you – you're not gonna hurt her?"

Jerry grins,

"Hey, your mother gives as good as she gets, I mean I got bruises on top of damn bruises – ,"

Dean cuts in swiftly,

"Not her, I mean _my_ mom."

In the general scheme of their messed up situation, there are frankly one too many _moms_ floating around and so it takes a second for the idiot abductor to figure out which one the kid is pleading at him for and another second more to note the teenager's expression which is clearly on the verge of completely breaking down. Again he grins and then shrugs back loosely, like he isn't prepared to commit either way and his answer is bullish and loaded with swagger,

"Depends if she tries to be clever or not."

" _Please_."

Jerry holds his hands up,

"It ain't my decision, what happens at the drop off is down to my girl."

Dean blinks,

"You mean this whole deal was her thing?"

"She saw you in the paper but I figured out the plan."

He seems almost proud and relatively speaking it may be the most complex thing he's ever done, barring breathing or possibly walking and not that Dean cares about who dreamt up what part because frankly he's far too busy being wounded and feeling like an idiot since he fell for their trap. Not only that but he's dragged in his family –

The people that love him.

He can't let them get hurt.

Jerry snorts again like he's remembered a quirky detail and then shakes his head and crosses his legs, carrying on like he's sat at the movies with a bucket of salty popcorn and the place to himself.

"You realize she gave her damn _self_ that big black eye and that split lip, you do know that right?"

Dean sucks a breath in and his blue eyes widen, or at least the one that physically can since the other one just sort of waters a little, which might be a tear of pain or desolation,

"What? No – ,"

"Uh huh, knew you would help her if she was all battered – turns out your mother is a pretty smart gal."

Dean's screws his fists up and he fights back the hitches as a bank of self-pitying tears roll out because the truth is just so utterly horrific and so is the sense of being totally duped.

He hates her.

Hates them both with everything in him and it burns a hole deep into his cold feeling bones, being exhaled as a sentence of fury that echoes around the auto shop.

"She is _not_ my fuckin' mom."

* * *

 **Next chapter we have Mama Reigns being the cash mule and also being awesome all round. Might be one of my favourite chapters, but maybe I'm getting ahead of myself...**


	16. Sixteen

**I'm back from my mini-break! Right in time for Wrestlemania too! I can't be the only one hoping that Dean is Braun's surprise partner can I? Anyway, we shall see!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Yep, she totally duped our poor little kid. Jerry doesn't seem so bad now does he? Oh, wait, yes he still does! I think as a romantic pair they totally deserve each other!**

 **Sodapop25, Thank you! Hope you enjoy this one, it's one of my favourites. Probably quite fitting I saved it for Wrestlemania day! See what you think!**

 **Skovko, Yep, I pretty much just took little Dean's heart out and then stamped on it about a million times. Plus there he was being all sweet and worried about her and all the time she was scheming!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Yeah, Dean is caught right between being pissed off that his mother is so awful and that he fell for it and also terrified because he doesn't know what they might do. Why am I so mean to him?!**

 **Mandy, Thank you. It was nice to kick back with a few drinks on the evenings and see somewhere new. Won't deny that it's still good to be home though, especially when I'm posting this all of chapters!**

 **Minnie1015, You can hug him between chapters, bit you might have to sneak into the warehouse to do it. Jerry is an idiot so he probably won't notice! Mama Reigns is definitely on the warpath though…**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Thanks, glad you're still enjoying it. Happy Wrestlemania day! Hope you like this chapter, Mama Reigns gets her chance to shine!**

 **HannonsPen, Sorry, but Mama Ambrose is in this chapter too (although I think you'll like it...not saying why). Glad you're loving it so much that you read the first one again too! That's such a great compliment!**

 **Rebel8954, Well, I think Jerry is just stupid full stop, but yeah, those two totally don't know what they're up against. Although I like think this chapter will change that a little for one of them at least!**

 **Onwards...**

* * *

 **Sixteen.**

Naturally she's frightened.

It would be weird if she _wasn't_ considering the life or death scenario going on and given that the teen she loves with her whole being is sitting with a black eye, chained to a pipe and pinning his every last hope on her actions and seeing that the money is transferred just right.

 _Dean_.

The thought is one that very briefly stills her as the bubble of terror flutters up and gets too much, in spite of the fact that the cops are spread around her, pretending to be runners or parked up kerbside in unmarked cars.

"Gracious me."

Her voice is a mutter but she has to say something because the tension is too much and the whole thing feels similar to being in a movie on some ridiculous stakeout that she's never thought could be real. Yet it _is_ and she is sitting there as living proof of it, perched on a bench in very easy view and casting around for the redheaded woman who has stolen her son –

Their son maybe?

No, just hers.

Her husband and eldest boy had tried to talk her out of it since there was simply no denying it was a treacherous role, but she had been unflinching with motherly obstinance and essentially still _was_ and so the pair had let it go. The police had been slightly more difficult to talk around but in the end there hadn't really been another valid plan, which meant that the detectives had been forced to let her do it and pass across the money in accordance with the demand.

Well, okay, not _all_ of the money –

In total it was probably about one hundred grand, simply because it had been difficult to process in the eight short hours they had been given to sort it out and also because the police had been insistent that all they really needed was enough to _look_ good. The rest of the bags they had just filled with blank paper and a tracking device that she hopes to god above works. Even so the thing seems a pretty fraught strategy and one that none of them are happy about, since the tape had specified that they follow the orders and not call the police.

They have sort of ignored both.

Her husband had been willing the pay the ransom fully, to the point where he would have sold the whole businesses off and possibly have even pawned away an organ if it meant that they could get their poor child back. All of them would. Roman in particular had been pretty much desolate because deep down she knows he feels the thing is his fault and that he blames himself fully and utterly for the bruising and look of frightened anger they had seen in Dean's blue orbs –

Although maybe that description should actually be _orb_ all things considered, since her poor baby's other one had been virtually swollen shut.

In many ways it takes her right back to their first meeting, when Dean had been lying in a hospital bed, battered and bruised and such a sorry picture that he had captured her heart and simply been there ever since. Sometimes when she sits and thinks back on things a little, she is touched and surprised by how integral Dean now is.

How much he is a part of her family.

How much they all love him.

How much of _her child_ he is.

Even her husband who is renowned for his composure and general awkwardness when it comes to showing love, has adopted the boy into his heart without exception and that just goes to show how wildly special the teen is –

 _Their Dean_.

Because that's just simply who he is.

Someone coughs a little distance away from her and she realizes that a policeman is gazing across. Not that she would know that by glancing his way though, because he's dressed as a park worker picking up trash and is busy tipping out a black sack of garbage into a trash can a few benches down. She frowns a little and his eyes flicker over to the entrance of the park.

Her hands go dry.

Keeping close to the railings and the overgrown shrub line and looking more furtive than a criminal should, Dean's mother is cutting a skittish path towards her, green eyes darting and hair ruffling in the wind. In terms of color it isn't dissimilar from the tones of the child she had given birth to, only Dean's scruffy bangs have the merest hint of russet while also factoring in soft browns and blondes. His hair is actually one of her favorite features since the messy mop can easily pick him out of a crowd and hangs above his eyes and bounces with such infectiousness whenever he's happy and rocking on his feet.

The policeman grunts and then begins a cheery whistle, either as a warning or else to blend in and fortunately the redhead seems not to be suspicious since she crosses the distance and then drops down onto the bench. They're sitting on opposites ends of the wood slats like they don't know each other, which quite frankly they don't and nor is their relationship looking set to blossom.

The other woman coughs and then clears her throat,

"You got the money?" she asks,

Just like that and while the Reigns matriarch isn't expecting hugs and kisses she is still sort of stunned by how cold the question is, as if they are swapping top secret material and not exchanging money for the life of a boy.

She swallows then nods and tries to remain focussed,

"Yes, I do, it's all in here."

As she speaks she pats a gym holdall on her far side and Dean's mother shuffles closer and reaches out a hand. It is stopped by the woman who is raising her son for her and the green eyes blink up with a measure of surprise.

"What the – ,"

"Please, _please_ tell me how Dean is, I know he's hurt but has he eaten, has he slept?"

The questions come out in rapid fire worry and the redheaded woman merely gapes in reply, clearly not having expected the barrage and dazed by the intensity of the maternal disquiet. Evidently it is something she has never felt personally and the Reigns family matriarch can tell she's enthralled. The drug-shaken hand falls away from the holdall and the emerald orbs blink a couple times more,

"Why – why do you all care so much about him?"

Her own answer is simple,

"He's a beautiful boy, smart, funny and _oh so_ loving. I wish you could know him the way we all do."

It isn't a lie or said to placate her or guilt into feeling something – anything at all – but is instead the truth and what she feels deeply and would tell to the world if they wanted her to. The love that she has for her children is special and since Dean is her child he is a part of that too. There is so much about him that makes her feel happy and he's perfect in every way.

Well, at least he is to _her_.

Dean's birth mother however still seems stunned by the fondness and not just for Dean but seemingly for _anyone_. She looks up again in a hesitant eye contact and a strand of red hair falls over her face. There's a black eye in place and a nasty looking split lip and the older of the women feels a frisson of concern, but in the end it is only very very fleeting because the person in front of her has stolen their son.

"I – I wasn't cut out to be a mother."

It isn't the sentence she's expecting to hear and her response is to work her mouth up and down a little as she contemplates an answer,

"Oh come now surely not, I mean I wouldn't say I always know what I'm doing but you learn."

The red hair shakes,

"I didn't _want_ to be a mom, still don't, can't take someone needin' me always."

"So that's why you took off?"

The older woman takes the chance, asking the question with a very light resonance while at the same time doubting she should be asking her at all. Still, in the moment she simply can't stop it because since she met Dean it's all she's wanted to know and the thought that has chewed at her and kept her up some nights –

How could she ever have abandoned her son?

Especially when the son is as sweet and conscientious and downright _good_ as her own little Dean. It doesn't make sense and nor will it ever, regardless of the answer, but it still needs to be said.

The redhead blinks,

"I just – I couldn't take it, I needed to be me instead of being _mom_. Figured my asshole baby daddy would take care of him. Guess on that front I figured things wrong."

She snorts a little and the note is a wry one that implies she feels bad for what happened to her boy and although the remorse is too late to make a difference, it's _there_ and it gives the older woman a small flash of hope. Turning towards her with a move that makes her startle, the Reigns matriarch takes the cold hands in her own and then stares into the emerald orbs without blinking and makes a mother to mother type appeal,

"Tell me where he is, you can have the money, none of us care one bit about that."

"I – I can't – ,"

"We can protect you from your partner, but we just want our son, _give_ me our son."

For a second it looks like the begging is working because emotion sort of flickers in her gaze and it looks a lot like guilt or compassion but is gone in an instant as it settles on something else. That something being the detective-come-park-worker transferring garbage but clearly giving them the eye, enough to make the redhead's senses come to life again because the next thing she knows the hands are yanked away hard and her child's birth mother is launching for the holdall,

"No police, no police, we warned you on the tape – ,"

Cops are starting to stream across the greenery and a woman with a stroller who has been feeding ducks even turns out to be an officer as well, all of them suddenly drawing their guns out and scampering towards them, yelling things out.

Dean's birth mother is grabbing at the holdall and has an exit free behind her that hasn't been filled up. If she manages to make a speedy dash towards freedom and for whatever reason ends up being lost, then the chances are high that she will phone her meaty boyfriend and Dean will suffer because they've been fooled.

 _No_.

The Reigns family matriarch knows that can't happen and she also knows that she's the only one close enough to help. She has never really been a violent person or someone who has much genuine conviction in what she does, but she _is_ a woman who values her offspring and when it comes to people hurting them, it makes her a lion. Which is why instead of sitting back and waiting she suddenly clamps her fingers tight around the bag, jerking the redhead to a wobbly standstill and then not letting go.

" _Where is my son_?"

For a second or two a tug of war happens but as the cops draw in closer, the drugged up redhead tries to run which means that the older and more stable of the women is forced to suddenly alter her grip, wrapping her fingers around the bony little scarred wrists and then hauling Dean's mom back with such force that she trips. The Reigns matriarch is on her in an instant, pinning her to the bench using only her knees and yelling with a fury that she's never even fathomed far less had an inkling that she even possessed,

"Tell me where he is, or I promise so help me, I will instruct our lawyers to go in hard and make sure you get every second of jail time for ever even _thinking_ about causing that boy harm."

"Lemme go,"

The redhead is squirming like a demon but despite her desperation the older woman is in charge and working on both fury and pure maternal instinct that has driven out her senses,

"Where is my son?"

" _Alright_ – ,"

* * *

 **Badass Mama Reigns alert! I loved this chapter, hope you all did too! We're back to Dean for the next one!**


	17. Seventeen

**Big crescendo being reached now then! Creeping our way steadily towards the end and yes, no Dean as Braun's partner...that will teach me to be optimistic I guess!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Mama Reigns can't be sweetness and light the whole time. Especially not when folk are hurting her kids. I figure she'll probably hulk out and then go back to being all quiet and demure again, kinda like it never happened. Did I mention I love Mama Reigns?!**

 **Sodapop25, Thank you. Never fear, your next update has arrived and we're going to be on the home stretch after this. Think you'll agree we've got a few loose ends to tie up before this thing is all done and dusted and I can hit that 'complete' button.**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Thanks, hopefully this chapter will be even cooler since there's quite a lot of drama and other 'things' going on. Enjoy!**

 **Skovko, Mama Reigns needed to have her badass moment. I think she's a cross between a lioness and a bunny rabbit or something else super cute and bright eyed! Who needs the police when Mama Reigns is on the warpath anyway? Save tax dollars by having a middle aged woman step in!**

 **Minnie1015, Well, Mama Reigns certainly didn't need the police just then, but it's probably for the best thing to do to let the boys in blue take over! I think they might be a little bit scared of her now though. I figure she'll probably make it up to them by baking them a cake later!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Well, Mama Ambrose has already got some of her just desserts by having Mama Reigns practically sitting on her. But yeah, my favourite part of that chapter was getting to see how different they are and how much better the Reigns' are for Dean. Plus they fight for him!**

 **Mandy, Thank you. Firstly (as ever) I'm super glad you liked the chapter. We've got drama aplenty in this one coming up. Secondly, thank you. It was nice getting away but it's super good to be back and surrounded by my things and my bed! Is there anything better than your own bed?!**

 **Back to Dean again...**

* * *

 **Seventeen.**

Roughly about an hour after the transfer is scheduled and therefore pretty likely long after it's played out, Jerry gets twitchy and starts muttering little sentences, riling himself up –

"She shoulda been here by now."

He also checks his cell about once every second and goes through a performance of holding it up, like maybe if he stands in just the right dust spot a million texts will come buzzing along. The fact that they don't only further frustrates him and so instead he takes to kicking at things, which is fine for maybe about the first half hour but gets slightly more tense as he runs out of things. Given that they're camped out in a former repair shop, there are plenty tools and paint pots around, only Jerry doesn't seem to want to go and fetch them and just blindly lashes out at what is closest to his foot. Pretty soon Dean knows that he'll cop the boot soles and the likelihood is high that it will really fucking hurt and frankly he isn't sure that his body can cope with it since he hurts all over.

He just wants to get out.

Vaguely he wonders if his birth mom has skewed things or inadvertently done something awful and hurt his _new_ mom, only that kind of thinking doesn't really get him anywhere other than panicky and so he swiftly tries his best to stop. The other option though is that she's simply skipped out on them, because honestly she already has previous for that and with a half million dollars who in the hell could have blamed her?

Except for Jerry –

Who clearly blames her a lot and is also clearly starting to wonder pretty much precisely the same damn thing, which doesn't much help his ever boiling temper and as the teenager shifts, the fierce eyes swing his way,

"You fuckin' laughin' at me huh jackass?"

Dean stiffens and then shakes his head in a quick motion,

"No."

Really there are about a half a dozen wilting comments just sitting on his tongue and which he yearns to unload, but given that he is still cuffed in place by his ankle and staring down a maniac he rightly figures it's not the place and instead simply tries to temper the anger by keeping things as short as they can possibly be.

Jerry stomps in,

"Then why are you smirking?"

"I – I'm not."

At this point in time he wouldn't dare and his eyes grow wide as the boots trample closer to within what he guesses is approximate head kicking range, whereupon the teenager instantly shuffles back until his spine is to the drywall and he's shaking like mad. The prospect of imminent death is consuming and his heart thumps brutally.

 _Oh fuck, this is it_.

"You think she's left me? Is that what you're thinking?"

Dean opens his mouth but doesn't get to respond, because the angry abductor suddenly rocks himself forward and grabs his captive roughly by the already torn scruff, which rattles the teen's bones and make him hiss out a whimper, but his hands are still free and so he raises them up, trying to counter whatever the hell is coming and locking them weakly around the larger man's wrists.

"Please – ,"

"She hasn't left me."

The line is mostly bellowed, to the point where light spittle cascades down onto his cheek and stings the ever tender surface of the bruising which is bearing the brunt of the screaming,

"Get _off_ – ,"

He's trying to push the bigger guy away from him, but it's impossible given the way he's all cramped up and means that he can neither throw a punch to help matters or even kick out. He is totally trapped. Jerry is straddling the leg that isn't tethered and crushing it under the bulk of his weight and the remainder of the dude is leaning forward in against him and therefore pinning his arms between both of their chests. He smells like booze and drugs and plain staleness and it makes Dean's poor unfed stomach sort of lurch, although how much of that is down to pure terror and how much is food based he isn't too sure. To make his point further, Jerry grabs his bangs fiercely and pulls on them so that Dean's bruised head is tipped up.

"I'll teach you not to go laughing at me kid."

"I fuckin' _wasn't_ – ,"

Dean drags a hand free and uses it to try and pry the chubby fingers off him, which doesn't really work and his hair is yanked again. In the moment his mind flies straight back to Roman and what he wouldn't give for his brother to be there and keeping him safe and being a big teddy.

He wants it.

He wants it _so_ much.

Jerry's remaining fingers scrabble round at his pocket and before the teen can blink, the god damn handgun is back and making them freeze in a weird sort of tableau as the metal of the barrel bites into his chin hard. His chunky kidnapper is near apoplectic with a fury that Dean doesn't even begin to understand but he assumes it is something to do with the panic of thinking that his girlfriend has taken off with their big win. If that _is_ the case then her tightly handcuffed progeny is probably a good place to start to glean revenge although they don't even know if she _has_ up and left him –

A car door slams.

"S-see? She's b-back."

The tremor in Dean's voice isn't just from the terror but is also partly driven by the pain and the shock. Not to mention the fact he feels half frozen and is hungry and dizzy.

He simply needs it all to stop.

If his mother is back though then that has to be a good thing because as long as she's got the money, they can maybe let him go. After all while the woman might be a god damn villain, he doubts that his birth parent wants to see him really harmed, or certainly not fucking _murdered_ in front of her and he clings to that notion.

He has to.

It's all he's got.

In front of him Jerry blows a lingering breath out and lets his bulging eyes slide shut just a bit, but the gun remains in place and then hitches a little as the car doors keep slamming –

 _Huh_?

One, two, three, four.

Either somewhere along the way his mother has picked up hikers or else the people out there aren't the woman at all and the thought of that fills Dean with such sudden hopefulness, that he ignores the gun completely and once more attempts to shout,

" _Help_ , I'm in here, hel – ,"

Jerry's cuts him off again in much the same manner, with a hand across his jaw, only the firearm moves as well and presses against Dean's temple with a hiss of pure malice and warning,

"Shut your mouth."

Clearly with strangers so close to their location, the kidnapper doesn't want to risk a gunshot right now, since there's no way in hell he would be able to kill him, then make a break for the hills and _not_ get himself caught. Evidently therefore his whole plan is to be silent and hope that the visitors get bored and go away which is so far the _opposite_ of what the frightened teenage boy wants that he can't help but try to wriggle free from his captor again. Jerry jerks his head so that it bounces off the drywall and it makes Dean see stars,

"Will you fuckin' _shut up_."

Pressed to him, Dean can feel the big man's heart beating and for the first time since they first met, the asshole seems scared. As in clammy palmed, beaded brow, fully wide-eyed frightened and it's a beautiful and satisfying thing to behold. Or, at least, it probably would be were Dean not halfway to petrified, because he still doesn't trust that his abductor won't shoot, in a nervous fingered accident as much as anything and which absolutely wouldn't be good.

Somewhere across the space, the auto shop door slides open and they both look towards it in a baffled freeze frame. For a second there is nothing and no one steps through it and then a whole _team_ do, guns held up high,

"Back off – ,"

"Put it down now – ,"

"Get your hands where we can see them – ,"

"Put the gun down nice and easy, then stand up."

The commands are bellowed in rapid fire format and are so thick and fast that they're difficult to hear and clearly more difficult still to follow, since Jerry simply blinks and doesn't move anywhere. To be honest, Dean doesn't really blame his confusion because the sudden mass of cops are pretty hard to work out because where in the hell have they even arrived from and how in the world did they know where to look?

"Put it down, _now_ – ,"

The shouting continues and momentarily Dean believes Jerry has to give up, otherwise surely he'll be blown into pieces or oblivion which he doesn't want to see and neither does the bulky man. But in the end, the kidnapper chooses raw panic and though he throws the gun away he also suddenly bolts, lumbering to his feet and careering across the warehouse towards a back door with a surprising amount of speed.

"Running, he's running – ,"

Officers stream past him and easily outstrip the overweight man, ploughing across the threshold a second after he vanishes then seemingly tackling his ass with a shout.

"Stay down, stay down."

Dean cannot see it and frankly nor does he really much care, because his body is so cramped and wracked with discomfort and so damn _free_ of the bulk and the gun. Letting out a sob, he drops his head forward and ignores the neck twinge as it falls into his hands.

 _It's over, it's over_.

He mutters it internally and then does it so much that he misses his name. Well, almost anyway but luckily not completely and nor do the police yells drown out the tones, which are low and soft and beautifully welcome.

"Uce?"

He blinks tears back.

 _Roman is there_.

How or why don't really seem important although likely the police couldn't make him stay at home. What matters instead is that he's stalking towards him with his brown eyes full of panic and most importantly, with love. The closer he gets, the more Dean starts tearing but it's fuelled by relief so therefore isn't a bad thing and he even shuffles his poor numb ass forward to reach the contact sooner because it's what he damn well needs. Roman falls onto his knees in a heartbeat and hauls the teenager into his chest, pulling him in almost as far as he can get him and then instantly massaging warm fingers across his head,

"You're alright uce, you're alright, I've gotcha."

In the rush of emotions Dean tries to explain because briefly he wonders if his family isn't angry with him for putting them through all of this _kidnap_ shit again,

"I thought – I thought he had beaten her up and I was just tryin _'_ to do the right thing."

Roman's arms fold in around him closer and he shushes the kid, doubtfully knowing what it means but managing to give out the perfect answer anyway which reverberates through him,

"It's not your fault, it's okay."

An officer bends down beside them with the key cuffs but Dean doesn't care about the binds anymore and would frankly sit there for the rest of his existence because his brother is with him.

Life is good now.

* * *

 **There, see? I was nice to Dean (sort of) plus Jerry is being hauled away by the cops. Not that Papa Reigns and Roman wouldn't have wanted five minutes with him (Mama Reigns and sisters too) but the police tend to frown on that kind of thing from family members!**

 **Next chapter, the Reigns family reunite and something changes in a big way (I'm such a tease!)**


	18. Eighteen

**Reigns reunion then and something also...will I be mean or kind to Dean here? Only time will tell!**

 **Skovko, I think Mama Ambrose would have been way more likely to come back in with a six pack of Budweiser, a few wraps of drugs and an alcoholic she found out on the street. Except that she won't be bringing back anything since she is now safely tucked up in jail where she belongs!**

 **Minnie1015, Glad you love their brotherly interactions. It's still my favourite thing to write in these teenage stories. I mean, I love Mama Reigns but Dean and Roman have something special which is super cute and fluffy. I even think I might have given myself tooth rot from it all!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Haha, well, you're usually right on the money, so I'm going to go ahead and just say you've guessed right and you'll tell me anyway whether or not you were! But yep, Dean is safe again and tucked in Roman's arms safely so whatever else happens, at least the kid has that.**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, I figured I had painted the cops as bumbling idiots enough in this story. I decided that I needed to cut them some slack and have them do right and naturally Roman was there because there was no way he would let a stranger be the first to give poor scared Dean a hug.**

 **Mandy, Yeah, I had always been fixing to make Braun a villain if I ever wrote him in one of these stories of mine, but now I'm not so sure that I can! Oh no, sorry you had a few rough days but I'm glad my stories were able to help! Makes me feel good to know they're doing good work.**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Aww, thanks. The next few chapters are all about tying up the loose ends and dealing with the fallout, so I hope you enjoy them. Lots of family moments too because at this point that's my speciality with these ones!**

 **HannonsPen, Choppy blonde may make one more appearance...not giving too much away! You're probably right that Dean needs therapy. He's going to get lots of family love first though and I'm going to give him some of Mama Reigns' style closure too. Poor boy deserves it!**

 **Make way for Mama and Papa Reigns...**

* * *

 **Eighteen.**

The police insist on Dean going to the hospital despite his vehement protests on the point, worried that the black eye might be a socket fracture and needing a doctor's record as evidence besides. Evidently all Dean wants however is to go home again, wanting the comfort of their parents' big house, where his plan involves installing himself on the sofa and sleeping right through until the leaves turn brown.

Roman knows this because his younger brother tells him, in a pointed and almost pitiful whine but in the end he goes to the hospital as bidden because Roman thinks he should do and also promises to stay close. A police cruiser takes them with the cop firing questions, but Dean remains silent because it's too soon for that and Roman sends the message with a grunt of displeasure and by adopting a steely sort of burn in his gaze. Luckily however their chauffeur soon gives up on him and Dean spends the journey tucked beneath his brother's arm, watching heavy lidded as the city passes by him while clearly trying to fight down the urge to pass out. It happens in spite of it though a few minutes later and he very lightly dozes for the rest of the drive, waking when Roman nudges him gently and paints on a smile,

"Uce? Let's get you checked out."

Partly because they are being escorted and probably because Dean looks like death, they are seen pretty fast and even given a side room with a modicum of privacy and a comfy looking bed. Dean has to give his clothes to the officer which are bagged and taken off for god only knows what but the scrubs he is given by the hospital are cosy and the kid seems to relish that they are all clean and fresh. A doctor arrives and pokes and prods a little but he doesn't ask questions like the officer did and so overall the whole thing is actually pretty painless –

Apart for the exam part.

Dean winces a lot.

Fortunately though the guy doesn't suspect a fracture although he orders an x-ray just to make sure, then prescribes a couple of pain killing tablets and heads from the room to get both of those things sorted out. Dean leans back on the bed and blows a breath out, his eyes blinking heavily,

"Uce? What happens now?"

His voice is sluggish and thick with exhaustion and the older man blinks at him,

"What happens about what?"

"My birth mom, will – will she go to jail?"

Roman draws a breath in,

"Probably, yeah."

He isn't really sure of the reaction it will generate but somehow he isn't expecting the snort, or the fact that Dean's eyes close contentedly as he grumbles a final, sleep-fogged little word out,

"Good."

Within less than a minute Dean is totally gone again, but this time in a slumber that is needed and deep and which also makes the older man murmur in fondness and deep sounding tones,

"I ain't damn surprised."

Roman settles himself into a chair in the meantime and resigns himself contentedly to playing guard dog for a while. The sound of Dean's in and out breathing is soothing and he lets it slowly wash some of the tension off. His shoulders ache and his back along with it, probably since he has spent the last ten hours sort of hunched and the chance to just unwind a fraction is exactly what he – what _all_ of them quite honestly – need.

No matter what anybody tells him from then on, the fact that Dean got snatched will always be his fault and a huge massive failure in his role as older brother that he's pretty damn sure he will take to his death. Dean was right under his nose when he was taken and there Roman was not even having a clue. It hurts and still forces up a raw sort of anger that makes him clench his fists and frankly want to punch a wall. As before though – back when Dean had first joined them and had woken up sobbing or been caught in nightmare throes – he resists the urge to do any real damage for fear of waking the battered kid up and so instead simply grinds his hands across his jean fronts, relishing the sting of the material's bite.

Mostly this thoughts hover over the moment he had pushed his way into the auto shop through the cops, _technically_ supposed to be hanging back and waiting until someone had given them the nod to go ahead. In real terms however, he could never been have patient knowing that the kid was so achingly near and so really the police should have simply been thankful that he hadn't shouldered entry any sooner than he did.

The suggestion for him to accompany the rescue had been offered by the grumpy male detective from before, who had been of the opinion that his being there would be helpful and who also wouldn't have been able to stop Roman if he'd tried. On top of that the eldest Reigns son had seemed less trouble than the terrifying patriarch or the emotionally fraught mom and so had gotten the nod almost entirely by proxy.

Thank goodness he had though –

Dean's face had lit up.

 _Dean's face_.

Roman's grimaces a little and then let's his eyes cast back across the teen, who looks so utterly at peace and contented but whose features are marred by the ugly purple bloom. Whatever had happened for his brother to receive it, the thing had still been delivered with a whack and just the fact that they were talking about fractures made the older man's stomach turn over and rise up.

 _No more though_.

He knows that fiercely.

No one will get to his brother anymore and if he has to lay his damn life down for that to happen, or spend the rest of it protecting him then that will be fine. Although after this who is there _left_ to break the youngster? They've pretty much met his whole family by now and one by one locked up their heartless asses –

It couldn't have happened to a nicer set of tools.

In fact Roman is still mulling the specifics of it over when his parents burst in on him about ten minutes after that, clearly having been shuttled over by detectives and looking both wide-eyed and half spent with relief. His mom in particular is emotional already and that only grows as she drinks in her poor son – _both_ of them – resting there safely in front of her and within hugging distance.

She blows a breath out,

"My sweet boy."

In the time it takes to blink or draw breath or do anything, the fast moving woman is straight across the floor and stationed beside the bed where her poor stolen child is with a hand pressed gently over his hair. It's clear from the way her fingers hover over him that is she desperate to but also scared of touching the bruised welt and although it seems almost totally redundant, Roman gestures towards him,

"He's asleep."

 _Well no shit_.

His father places a hand on his shoulder and clears his throat a little,

"How was it son?"

He's asking about the big dramatic rescue only Roman isn't totally sure where to start and so simply shakes his head and shrugs his broad shoulders, trying hard to find the words,

"He – he was chained to a pipe."

It's an element that the two of them know about already but in the moment it seems to say everything and more, because what the hell else is he supposed to tack onto it to flesh out what happened? That alone is enough. His father nods and then squeezes his neckline, kneading a big solid thumb into the joint and grounding Roman the way he had when he was little and letting him know that they would all be alright.

Over at the bed, Roman's mother plucks up her courage and brushes a fingertip gently beneath Dean's eye. It doesn't hurt him – because she would never do that – but it does pierce the slumber because he shifts and then blows out a sigh. For a second it's clear he doesn't know what is happening but evidently his brain is still running on fright and his body sort of jolts in a moment of panic that their mother soothes quickly,

"Sssh baby, you're safe now."

The moment the blue orbs lock on hers, they settle and the teenager slumps back like a ragdoll against the sheets, looking around until his eyes find out Roman and their frown faced father stood not too far away. He blinks once or twice like he's piecing things together, but once it's all there he throws them a smile and although it's wobbly and pretty pained looking, it is still the best damn sight they've all seen in a long while.

"Hey."

In response to scratchy sounding little greeting, Roman's father crosses the space at a trot, moving with startling grace and agility for a man who is three hundred and then some pounds of weight. He stalls by the bed and grips Dean's wrist lightly and while his face stays neutral, it is clear he's a mess. Or _has_ been anyway – in his own papa bear style – which now at last, they can all pretty thankfully put to rest. He smiles back fondly,

"How are you feeling?"

Dean shrugs a little then winces,

"M' alright."

 _Bullshit_.

Roman doesn't say it outright because even though he's grown now he know his mom will swat his head and so instead he sort of snorts it a little and blue eyes drift over and instantly know. There's a shorthand between them that neither has talked about, but exists and has done pretty much since day one. He and Dean just get one another and the thought seems to soothe the broken teenager as well, because he beams a little wider and attempts to throw a wink at him before groaning as he suddenly remembers his black eye.

"Ow, crap."

Dean doesn't get swatted but their mother _does_ panic,

"Oh sweetheart, does it hurt?"

"The doctor has gone off to get him some pain meds."

Dean nods happily,

"M' hopin' for the good stuff."

In the moment it seems like he's trying to get a laugh from them and in a very low-key way, the teen's chirpy plan works. Only Roman also can't help but shiver just a little because it's possible that the kid knows what he's talking about. Maybe throughout his years of being hurt by his birth father, he had come to know the various different painkillers well and that thought begins to fester in his brainstem until Dean's squeaky _new_ patriarch chuckles again,

"We'll make sure of it son."

Dean snorts bitterly,

"Wish I was."

"Was what?"

"Your son – like – your real one since forever, 'stead of havin' my folks, some parents _they_ are."

Considering what the teenager's blood relations have made him suffer, it's little wonder that he feels like his family tree is cursed and evidently he also feels that merely being on it is some gigantic sort of cross that he will always have to bear.

Roman grunts,

"Hey, they _ain't_ your parents, you got paper that makes it all legal, you hear?"

Dean licks his lips like he's forgotten that part of it and then offers up a reaffirming little nod, his voice however is still croaky sounding with the exhaustion of his snatching and the long hours of being strictly tethered up.

"Uh huh, I guess."

He doesn't sound convinced though so Roman's father once again clears his throat, keeping his hand on the slender wrist in front of him, while Roman's loving mother gently sweeps Dean's tangle back,

"You _are_ my real son."

"You know what I mean pop, I just – I just wish I had always been with you guys, y' know?"

For a second the older couple just continue to give comfort in the quiet and loving way that only they can and not for the first time, Roman sort of marvels at it and at the way that the kid has seamlessly _meshed_ with their lives. His mother of course would have always fallen for him given her vast unused reserves of maternal love, but for Roman's gruff father and all his sisters to have fallen, pretty much sums up just how special Dean is.

His parents share a look and Roman knows that they're debating in the silent longtime married way that only they can. He isn't sure what they're discussing exactly or who is winning it or even if they're still on the same page, but figuring that they will let him in on it at some point, he shuffles his weary bones back across the space, folding down into the harsh little bucket chair and blowing a breath out.

Dean's eyes glance his way.

"Hey uce?"

"You okay?"

He looks a little mournful,

"They tore my work shirt."

"We'll get another one, okay?"

In response the kid opens his mouth to protest it and Roman knows precisely why that is –

Because that was _Dean's shirt_ and the one that Truth had picked for him on his very first shift some nine long months back. Thanks to his mother's almost obsessive over-feeding and their sparring in the ring the teen is putting pounds on and it is likely that he would have required a new top before very long, but that isn't the point.

Roman's mother clears her throat,

"Sweetheart? We've got something we've been meaning to discuss with you."

She seems oddly nervous and it startles Dean as well, because the blue orbs flicker and then widen just a little like he's bracing himself,

"Is it – is it somethin' bad?"

"No honey, no."

Roman's father does the honors, as his wife cups the teenager's face in loving hands and glides the pad of her thumbs across his bruising, moving with a feather like touch that seems to help, or _must_ do since the teenager leans himself in against it and lets his shoulders unwind a little bit more. In the meantime however their father becomes flustered which is something that Roman has never seen before and he quirks his head in outright confusion because what in the world is about to happen now? From under the crook of their mother's loving elbow, Dean too clues into the shifty approach and shares a tiny look with his nearby older brother, who merely shrugs backs at him.

 _Uce, I don't know_.

For a second they both expect everything and nothing but neither puts a bet on what eventually comes out, gruff with nerves but utterly loving and like beautiful music,

"Would you let us adopt you, son?"

* * *

 **So when I decided to write a sequel, it's because I thought there were a few things here and there to wrap up and one of them being the blatantly obvious fact that the Reigns' needed to adopt Dean pronto to be officially one of them. Fixed it!**

 **Next chapter Mama Ambrose pops up again...**


	19. Nineteen

**Creeping towards the end of this story now, but there are still some things that are left to tie up, so I hope you stick with me right until the last word!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, He definitely does say yes to the adoption. He would be pretty crazy not to right? Who wouldn't say yes to the Reigns' at this point? I mean, I have two parents and I still think I would say yes is Mama and Papa Reigns wanted to add me to their brood!**

 **Mandy, Oh no, I'm sorry you're having bad days. Just remember, when least expect it, a good one will come along and then hopefully a bunch more. Glad that last chapter helped, it was super sticky sweet just the way I like them!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Thanks. I mean, it had to happen eventually right?! Besides, how could Dean ever say no to an offer like that? There's just the problem of his birth mom left to fix…**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Haha, I knew you would know what I knew you would know...um...I think! But yeah, as for poor Roman, I think a part of him will always blame himself, that big silly old teddy bear. Dean's mom back in the flesh in this one, but I hope you'll like it nevertheless.**

 **Minnie1015, Little Brother 3? Hmmm. Funnily enough an idea popped into my head for what could be the next Teen Dean story and I was so convinced this would be the end too! Still, writing series of things seems to have become kinda 'my thing' so why not?!**

 **Sodapop25, Will do, I promise, besides, there are only another two chapters after this one, so I would be pretty crazy to bail out now! Glad you're still loving it though and thanks for sticking with it (and me!)**

 **Skovko, Absolutely, Dean will be an official, card-carrying Reigns and will belong to people who genuinely love him. I mean, he's been through so much I figured it was only right that I finally reward him for being such a brave kid (and for having been so mean to him, whoops!)**

 **Mama Ambrose, here she comes then...**

* * *

 **Nineteen.**

Because Dean's mother had been caught red handed and then confessed to the kidnapping, there is no jury trial and so luckily therefore no need to call witnesses, which means that Dean is spared from having to take the stand.

In the end she gets sentenced to six years for her part in things, with her confession all that saves her from a much longer stretch. Her dependency on drugs too seems to count for something, as do Jerry's clearly dominating ways. Despite that though, she isn't whiter than white in it and since Dean is still scarred he doesn't actually attend. Papa Reigns does though, with Titus their lawyer and together they bring back the eventual news, but Dean doesn't care and he means that for the first week because frankly he is done with his birth folks for now.

In the meantime the adoption process sails along nicely and for once the piles of paperwork don't seem like a drag and are actually pretty _exciting_ to fill out because they bring Dean ever closer to the one thing he wants. It's also made easier by his earlier emancipation since they don't have to run it by his birth mom or dad and although Titus likes to try and keep the timeline cautious, there is an unspoken hope that it will be done within two months.

"Two months?"

Dean is speechless the first time he hears it –

Well, not quite, but pretty close to it for him, because somehow he had expected some long drawn out process which it evidently won't be.

The lawyer frowns,

" _Possibly_."

In real terms though how long doesn't matter since the Reigns' already treat him like their own and have done since the moment he'd arrived there ten months back, so on that front at least there is nothing much to change. Still, Dean wants it and he needs it to be official because without that signed paper there's a hole in his heart. They love him sure, but he doesn't legally _belong_ to them and the moment he does he knows his life will feel complete.

The first few days after he is rescued from the auto shop, he and Roman stop off at the Reigns family house, where true to his word, Dean crashes out completely and sleeps for what is almost a full forty eight hours. Roman and their mother come in a few times to rouse him, to prod him towards the bathroom or half force him to eat, but for the most part their visits are to card his hair gently, to check he's alright and whisper words into his dreams. When he finally comes to and gets up for the first time, he still feels drained but he is more himself as well and from that point on and with the promise of adoption, things start to get back to normal.

It feels good.

Which is why the letter that arrives from his mother a week into her sentence kind of throws the contentment out and paints an ugly type of uncertainty around him that he's not sure how to handle.

The message contains just three words –

 _Come see me_.

With a hasty sort of _please_ added later on, which they know because it's written in a different shade of pen and in an untidy scribble like she's suddenly thought of it while they were taking the piece of paper away. It comes through one morning in the post to their apartment and seeing the stamp, Roman sucks in a breath and then hands it across with a sobering expression and a reassuring gaze,

"Whatever it says uce, you're okay."

Even so the fact that she wants him to visit catches the teen with a measure of surprise – or, okay, more than a measure, pretty much a whole quota – because what is even left to say? Does she want to speak or have _him_ do the talking and if that's the case then what the hell about? For easily the first minute he sits and hyperventilates until Roman catches his shoulder and repeats,

"You're okay."

The decision to accept her request comes slowly.

As in achingly slowly over the course of three weeks, with the letter getting buried under bills and general life _-_ stuff as the kid tries to pretend that it doesn't exist. When he finally comes to it however he is bolstered and buoyed up by the fact that his adoption is half complete and therefore almost impossible to counter or derail or otherwise attempt to somehow mess up, the fact of which gives Dean a strange sort of confidence –

Based on which, he decides to go and visit his birth mom.

Naturally the family all offer to go with him, which includes older sisters and brothers-in-law as well, although all of them know that the kid will pick Roman, which he does in a heartbeat,

"Uce, will you come?"

"You know I will."

Which is why the last weekday of the month sees them standing in the early morning sunshine inside the penitentiary walls, in an outdoor area rammed full of waiting people who have come to see their loved ones locked away behind bars. For the most part they look sort of bored but expectant and Dean gets the feeling they've all done it lots before, but to him it is all new and since he doesn't love his mother, there isn't excitement just raw nerves are all he feels.

"Uce, you okay?"

It helps to have Roman, who as his designated chaperone is duty bound to stay near and it also helps that his brother is bigger and better built up than any other guy in there and in a sleeveless top that shows off his inking and makes him look rowdy instead of a cuddly teddy bear. In short Dean feels safe being with Roman like always and so he nods and licks his dry lips,

"Uh huh."

Clearly it isn't a convincing reply though because the older man instantly narrows his eyes which is followed by him opening his mouth to say something but is swiftly cut off as Dean's birth mom arrives. She's wearing an actual honest to god jumpsuit and although _all_ the inmates are, it still takes him by surprise because for some jacked up reason he doesn't see her as a criminal.

An asshole of a mother but not a villain.

He's not sure why.

She takes a seat opposite them keeping her eyes down and begins to circle the scratched table with her thumb, acting like a god damn child which pisses him off because _she_ has called _him_ there. She was the one that had wanted him to show up and like some gullible idiot he has. For a second he feels like she just wants to control him and so it bursts out in a sentence,

"What the fuck do you want?"

Beside him Roman shifts just a little and puts a hand out over his own, alerting the teen to a frowning corrections officer who is standing nearby waiting for trouble to break out. If they start up brawling there's a chance they'll be thrown out of there, which in spite of everything is simply _not_ what Dean wants and so the boy takes a breath and blows it out slowly, centring himself.

His mother blinks,

"M' sorry, y' know?"

"What?"

Just like that her apology cuts around them, like one tiny sentence can make up for all the hurt and the six years of leaving him alone with his father, followed by her showing up and then _ransoming_ his ass. If she honestly thinks that will make it all better then the woman is out of her tiny little mind, although fortunately it's Roman that issues the answer and under the circumstances Dean figures that's just as well,

"Is that the best you've got?"

Her green eyes flash and she glares at the big man,

"This doesn't concern you, I was talkin' to my son."

"Except that he isn't your son anymore – like I already told you – we've got papers from the courts."

She snorts,

"Papers, _ha_ , like that shit means anything."

Dean suddenly blurts a sentence out,

"They're adoptin' me as well."

Possibly the best way to have offered that fact out would have been slowly after laying some groundwork, rather than just flinging it at her like a missile although once he gets it out Dean feels weirdly kind of proud. Because saying it makes it that much more real and fuels him with conviction.

He has a _proper_ family now, or nearly at least.

His mother's mouth drops open in absolute horror or possible astonishment since it's kind of hard to tell and her eyes dart between them like it's some form of pranking or else a vicious lie,

"They can't do that."

"Yes they can, an' what's more I _want_ 'em to, more 'n anythin' else in the world."

His fists close up on the table in passion and he glares across with force as he throws the words out, hoping against hope to burn them deep along her brainstem and sever their connection at every checkpoint for good.

"But you came here to see me – ,"

"To tell you we're done now," Dean remains unflinching, "I don't want you in my life."

She grumbles back darkly,

"They've turned you against me."

Roman sort of tenses but the teen gets there first, with an instinctive streak of both anger and outrage that hisses across the distance as he digests what he's just heard,

"You fuckin' left me alone with that bastard for six damn years without sayin' a word. He beat the shit outta me any time I wasn't quick enough and one time he left me on the kitchen floor to die. If Roman hadn't of come by and found me that night I might not even still be here anymore and it was him and his family – _my_ family – that looked after me. They love me, don't you get that? They want me there."

In terms of full force heart-pouring-out missives, it is probably the longest and most intense he's ever gone but in the moment the teenager just can't stop it coming because it needs to be said.

He's getting his closure after all.

His mother blinks and then looks across to Roman who remains a strong presence camped right by his side and it's almost like she sees how they are bonded for the first time and also how much shit the man has saved her child from. Her shoulders slump and she sags towards the table with such sudden movement that she almost bumps her nose and then mumbles out a pathetic little question that seems to be a watershed,

"So I'm not your mom?"

"No."

"Ever again?"

Dean shakes his head firmly and as he does he feels a sort of weight lifting off, like he's finally putting his parents behind them and filing them away on a top shelf in a box and which _also_ means being done with his bad childhood.

Every last shitty part of it.

But he's pragmatic as well, which is why as he and Roman stand up from the table, both of them knowing that their mission is done, the teenager stops for a second and sucks a breath in, drawing the dulled looking green eyes up again.

He shrugs,

"But thanks – I guess – for takin' off on me, 'cos if you hadn't we'd all still be back there at the house, hatin' on each other and bein' fuckin' miserable. At least now I know what it's like to be loved."

Then, like she had done all those years earlier, he turns and walks away without so much as a pause. He doesn't look back and he doesn't once doubt it.

Instead he steps out and into the sun.

* * *

 **Take that Mama Ambrose! Next chapter, I put Roman through something difficult but I'm not too mean to him in the end...intrigued? I hope so!**


	20. Twenty

**Now then, we all know that Roman needs a little something for having been such a good big brother for these last two stories, so here we go! Final chapter coming up after this one when the last of the loose threads (I hope) gets sewn up!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Yep, he's nearly a Reigns boy now. Not that he ever would have said no to them in the first place but at least we all know that it's completely official now! See? I can be nice to the boys too on occasion, so now here's Roman's present…**

 **Skovko, Teen Dean's journey has been pretty epic over these last few chapters and so him being able to shout at one of his useless parents and tell them exactly what he thinks is another part of that. The Ambrose clan are out of his life forever (unless I write Big Brother, 3, 4, 5 etc. sure there are plenty of other cruel things I could do!)**

 **Mandy, I figured that Dean was one of those 'silver lining' kind of kids and so literally the one good thing that came out of his parents being so awful was meeting the Reigns' and being showered with non-stop love. His terrible mother needed to know that. Kickass Teen Dean huh?!**

 **LHisawesome4ever, I know, I'm the same, I spend the entire time that I'm a writing a story keen to move onto the next one and then when I'm writing the final chapter I never want it to end (fickle writers huh?!) Shield one coming very soon, just one final chapter of this story still left after this!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Thanks and many thanks for having seen this nearly all the way through (one more chapter still to go) Super glad that you're enjoying it still. Let's just hope I don't lose it now!**

 **Raze Olympus, Well, she's locked up now and I have no plans to bring her back so if you want for her to die in prison, then why not? Hmmm, except that Dean would probably be weirdly upset by that, so maybe we hope she has a rough time in prison and has time to think on what she's done?**

 **Minnie1015, Yep, he still has that left to do but other than that (and the whole traumatic kidnapping and gun to the head stuff) I figure he's come out of this story pretty well right? I mean, he's nearly been adopted, he co-owns a business. I can be nice to teen Dean too!**

 **Rebel8954, He has finally washed his hands of both of his shitty parents. Our boy is growing up so fast! After everything I've put them through I figure that now is the time for me to be nice to them, so I'm starting with Roman in this chapter and then moving on to Dean last of all!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, I sort of wanted his crappy birth mother to end up being a bit of a sad figure, but she totally deserves everything she gets and our poor little Dean so needed his moment to let loose and really tell her how he felt. Well, her loss now, he's going to be a Reigns soon!**

 **Penultimate chapter then...**

* * *

 **Twenty.**

Roman spends the last half hour before home time whirring around the gym like he's recently been possessed and generally keeping so unusually busy that the assorted staff members sort of stop and take note.

"Dude," Sasha frowns, her nose turned up a little like her boss' enthusiasm is unpleasant to watch, "What the hell has gotten into you this evening? Dial it down, huh? You're freaking me out."

They're stood in the boxing room getting it ready for the seniors' class which Mama Reigns too has recently started to attend, in order to improve her health and range of motion and also – as she likes to put it – to kick a little ass. What doesn't help much is that she also brings sweet treats, which she passes around afterwards thus undoing the hard work, but then, since the majority of the class are well over fifty and many of them are pushing eighty besides, the post-session natter and confectionary goes down wonders and is now so expected that she bakes up a storm.

Truth shakes his head and leans on the mop end,

"Is there somethin' you ain't tellin us man?"

Roman tenses,

"No."

Dean is sitting up on the edge of the boxing ring, grinning away like he usually does and he alone is the one person in there who knows the real reason why Roman is worked up. Which he damn well _should_ do since the whole thing is his fault.

Internet dating?

Who even _does_ that? Far less signs their unsuspecting older brother up for it? Because that was precisely what Dean had done in secret in what he likes to call a _genius idea_ and which seems to be part of some plan to get him dating like he's worried about the big guy not having a special girl. On some plain of reality Roman's almost sort of honored, since it's the teenager's way of looking out for him more, although mostly he's just equal parts horrified and bewildered –

Made even worse since his first date is tonight.

According to Dean she is studying sports sciences which the kid seems to think will give them a fighting chance, or at least provide them with a topic of conversation on the very likely basis that the thing will be a dud. Dean has also told him that she's a real looker, but then again the teenager has said that before, back when he had introduced him to Carmella, so there's the worrying possibly the kid's cute-girl-radar is turned off. Then again Dean _had_ fallen stupidly and hopelessly in love with the ripped jeans and choppy haired blonde and although she is way too young for Roman to take note of, from the glimpse he had gotten she'd seemed a pretty girl.

Which means there is hope –

Although he's not holding out much of it and which is probably the reason he's so jittery inside, because as awkward as first dates are without exception, it is so much more worse to have to turn down a reprise.

Sasha frowns back unconvinced,

"It's not nothing, come on man, spill."

Roman looks at Dean and positively begs him through brotherly psychic thinking not to say a god damn thing. The teenager grins in response and debates it but then nods again and mimes locking up his lips.

 _Thank god_.

Sasha however is by no means diverted and evidently she knows now that Dean is in on the whole thing, which means she begins to bat her lashes a little and saunters her way over to where the kid is, swinging her hips and flicking her tresses until the youngster is full on gaping in awe.

"Shit."

Moving in close, Sasha raises a finger and uses it to trace a tiny line down Dean's front, running its tip along the length of his breastbone and making his breathing stutter before tilting her head,

"Come on big boy, it's not nice to keep secrets, tell me what's up with the boss man, huh?"

Truth chuckles broadly,

"I'm tellin' you, she's a witch dude."

Roman speeds across and inserts his bulk in hurriedly, backing Sasha up as her lips ghost Dean's cheek, before breaking the mesmeric connection between them with what he really freaking hopes is a disapproving glance.

"He's sixteen remember, hands off my little brother."

Sasha rolls her eyes and huffs an angry breath,

"Ugh."

In real terms of course, she would never go further and all of them know that because the teen is like her kid and she – with the rest of them – love him like family, although his previous infatuation with her still clearly brings results.

"He's goin' on a date."

" _Dean_ – ,"

Roman whirls towards his brother, who is blinking like he isn't really sure where he is and only has eyes for the purple haired goddess whose minx-like ways had broken down his resolve. At Roman's panicked shout, he seems to come back again and shakes his head like he's not sure what's gone on, although he seems to remember pretty damn quickly and throws his hands up guiltily,

"I couldn't help it uce, she was _touchin'_ me."

Truth snorts at that and then wanders past them wearily, patting the kid's shoulder,

"We've all been there little dude."

But for Sasha however, the main question being answered has seemingly opened up a whole lot more and she stands in front of Roman almost bouncing in excitement like she's pumped for him or something,

"So then, what's she like?"

Her employer rolls his eyes,

"Don't know, never met her."

"A blind date?"

"More like _unwilling_ but yeah, let's go with blind."

Wandering past with a roll of exercise mats which he starts to carefully lay out on the floor, Truth frowns a little and then scratches his hair braids like he's missing a clue or something.

"Someone else set you up?"

In response to the question, Roman raises his brows up to indicate that yes they damn well had and then points towards his still grinning little brother with total accusation,

"He's sitting right over there."

"Shut the front door," Sasha gapes in amazement, before reaching across and punching the kid hard. It's meant as a sort of gesture of approval but it's certainly less welcome than the earlier flirtatious eyes and Dean basically hisses and grips his arm tenderly as the feisty trainer groans, "Oh come on, that didn't hurt."

Roman grins,

"I hope it did."

Dean glares at him,

"I'm tellin' you uce, I picked a good one this time, you're gonna go nuts for her."

 _Nuts._

That doesn't help things and Roman blows long breath out and reminds himself steadily that he loves the kid so much it hurts. For the most part he doesn't need any cue for that detail but every so often he has to spell the thing out, like when Dean has left his wet towels in the bathroom or used up the milk and put the empty carton back. Still, at least this is him _trying_ to be helpful, even if it is the last thing that Roman would want and sure enough, when he looks up, the teen seems sort of worried like he's messed up again.

Roman clears his throat,

"Nuts, huh?"

Blue eyes light up,

"Totally – like – in a _good_ way, I mean it, this one's different, way more your sort of girl."

By this point everyone is watching him intensely and so the big guy sucks it in and attempts to look bright, reaching over and tousling the tangle while shrugging off his doubtfulness,

"Better go get ready then."

Because a pretty big part of Dean's evident sales pitch in hooking his brother a girl has been gym-business based and so Roman's poor date is meeting him in the lobby which is a pretty crappy way of starting things off. Naturally to Dean it's showing off their prowess and the fact that the older man comes with serious clout but what he _hasn't_ thought about is the neighborhood around it which the woman will have to drive though.

It doesn't much scream romance.

It also means that Roman will have to change in the office and shave in the sink in the staff locker room, which is only likely to draw unwelcome added embarrassment and make the thing more painful than it already is. Still, at this point it's for Dean's confidence more than anything and so he resolves to at least _pretend_ to have a good time. So good in fact that he'll insist on taking his dating profile over and searching the matchmaking website for himself. Dean won't get hurt and _he_ won't have to date more.

It's the perfect solution.

Provided he makes it through the night.

To that end he shrugs himself into some smart pants and throws on some cologne and a freshly pressed shirt. His hair is tied back and his beard is trimmed neatly until he very _very_ nearly feels content about himself. The main problem though is the ever present heartbreak which has stalled his dating life for well over a year and makes the situation so much more daunting because he's still sort of grieving for the future he'd almost had. For the white picket fence and crazy ass children that he'd dreamt about having with his former fiancée and whose ultimate betrayal had kind of left him empty on the romance, dating and whole soulmates thing. Not that he has thrown that idea out completely, he just isn't really sure he's in a _moving on_ place and he cannot imagine himself with someone else yet.

Handpicked by Dean or otherwise.

It's not where he is.

Frankly the whole minefield is so damn confusing that he's still trying to figure it when his brother comes bursting in, blue eyes bright with a sparkling excitement and breathless from an evident sudden wild run. For a second he figures that something has happened and then the words fall out,

"Uce, she's here."

Roman checks his watch.

Right on time.

 _God damn it_.

But he nods his head calmly and grabs his jacket,

"Lead the way."

There are many things in life that Roman trusts Dean with, but social engagements isn't top of that list and so the walk to the reception feels almost like a death march, as the kid himself sort of _skips_ the whole way. The closer they get, the more Roman's chest tightens and when they turn the final corner he almost shuts his damn eyes but is then ridiculously glad that he hasn't because the woman stood in front of him is all brilliant smiles. She is tiny and petite but has beautiful features, with just enough makeup to not be over the top. She is wearing a dress but it isn't too formal, or short or outrageous. Her whole look is just right. Her hair is brown and kind of curly, but it gives her an open, very easy sort of vibe and something in Roman kinds of lights up on seeing her.

His palms grow clammy.

He smiles across,

"Hi."

* * *

 **Yep, after having his heart broken way back in college, I thought it was about time Roman met a nice girl. As usual she is sort of nameless and faceless and so therefore she can be whoever you want.**

 **One final thing to wrap up now, so hopefully I'll see you all back for the very last chapter!**


	21. Twenty One

**Right, so final chapter everybody and a big thank you to everyone who took this two-part Teen Dean journey with me and especially to those who left reviews! No sequel coming up to this but I have an idea brewing...so please let me know in the reviews if you want to read anymore of this verse or if you're all totally sick of them now!**

 **Skovko, Yep, Roman totally needed a little bit of loving for all his good big brother work, but I'm pretty much leaving that side of things to your imaginations because, hey, I mean this is about the brothers after all! Girl, do I even need to say thank you for reviewing my stuff at this point! Hell yeah, I do! THANK YOU!**

 **Wolfgirl2013, Yay! Thank you and thank you for following yet another of my crazy stories right the way through and reviewing and letting me know that it's hitting the mark. Hope to see you at whatever I churn out next!**

 **xXBalorBabeXx, Roman's girl is whoever you want her to be, so feel free to let your imagination go wild on that! Basically I just wanted to give the big guy a girlfriend and give him a little something for having been so sweet! I figured that's the least he deserved! As ever, thank you so much for for reviewing and making me smile! Another Shield story next?**

 **LHisawesome4ever, Big Dog deserves some goodness once in a while! Well, here you go then, here is your conclusion and the next Shield story will be coming up soon (see bottom for details) but until then thank you for being here and for reviewing and for pushing me along and sharing the crazy writer vibes! Big, big thanks!**

 **SkittlezLvr79, Poor Dean, it's the only way he can think of to pay his brother back for having saved his life...even if Roman's not too keen. Things might be looking up in this chapter though, for both of our boys. Well, here we go then, last chapter and my usual big thanks, for not only reviewing so faithfully ever chapter but for making them so long and detailed as well! Means a bunch!**

 **Raze Olympus, Well, beyond a few basic descriptions I'm not going to be giving Roman's new lady friend a name and if I do write a sequel I'm not going to change that, so basically his new girl can still be whoever you want her to be! But in other news THANK YOU for reviewing this story and making me laugh and letting me know how I'm getting on. Appreciate it lots.**

 **Mandy, Well I couldn't exactly round out the story without making sure Roman had something to smile about as well! That would have been playing favourites with my boys (lol!) Glad that I could make your days a little brighter but also super glad that you do the same for me by always reviewing and being one of the first to check the new chapters out. Much love and hugs!**

 **Minnie1015, Teamwork makes the dream work (yeah, I know, I even hate myself for saying that) Dean had to make sure his big brother was all hooked up though! So, the end of another story then and here I am thanking you again for being there every chapter, especially with all the crazy you've got going on right now! Huge massive hugs and see you at the next one!**

 **Last chapter everybody...**

* * *

 **Twenty One.**

Unsurprisingly perhaps, when the adoption is made final and fully legal and binding, the Reigns' go mad. Mama Reigns bakes a cake the same size that _he_ is and they all of them converge for a family meal. On top of that they also pencil in an actual party, with cousins and aunts and everyone they've ever met, which thrills and daunts Dean in near equal measure because he's one of them now and this is _their_ scene.

Luckily though the family meal is the first thing, which gives him the chance to celebrate with just them and is easy and relaxed and comfortable for him, in a way he would never have thought those long months before. Each of Roman's sisters – _his_ sisters now also in a full and totally state recognized sense – have bought him little trinkets to welcome him properly that comprise various items emblazoned proudly with his name. There's a monogrammed tie which he's sure he won't get use from, but the letters of which look so good in gold silk, a watch that has the date carved into the backplate and a bank of headed paper with the Reigns surname and his address.

He thanks them all and grins like an idiot but he's disappointed that nothing really feels like it's changed much, which is possibly because things were already perfect but also because deep down he feels like the same Dean. Still, the meal is nice though and Mama Reigns makes his favorites, in fact all of his favorites since it's his special day and so the table is full of cheeseburgers and pizzas and a vat of pasta salad which only she knows how to make. There is soda and ice cream and of course, the four tiered beauty that gets brought to the table with candles all alight. It isn't his birthday but they're treating it like that and Mama Reigns has a name for it,

"Happy welcome home day."

He blows out the candles but doesn't make a wish on them, because what is there left that he still doesn't have? He has himself a home, he has love and a business and best of all he simply has a family again. _He_ might feel the same but something else doesn't alter and that is the devotion which he has for all of them. From the eldest member to the tiniest nephew who are all of them his now.

He grins.

"Thanks everyone."

Once the medieval style banquet is over and people have rolled off their chairs to sprawl out and let the feast digest into nothing, Dean helps to clear up the table with his mom. It's something he does always because he likes to be helpful and over the months it has just become his role. Sometimes Mama Reigns tells people he's the sous-chef and that makes him laugh because he's more like the bus boy or whoever it is that ends up scrubbing the pots clean, but he appreciates it though so that's the thing that counts.

"Here you go mom, these are the last of 'em."

By the time the spread is cleared, she is already standing with her rubber gloves rolled up and hot water in the sink. There's a snowstorm of bubbles in the air all around her and her cheeks are pink,

"Thank you baby boy."

"You and pop are gonna have plenty of leftovers,"

"Your father will finish them, don't you worry about that."

Dean hums a note then falters a little because he's been thinking something through on and off for a while, but isn't really sure he can properly explain it without it sounding like an insult,

"Um, I – ,"

"Go ahead sweetheart."

Mama Reigns is still calmly washing up the pots but the ease of her tone suggests she knows that he is nervous and so doesn't want to stare and risk putting him off,

Dean takes a breath,

"I was thinkin' about the homeless – like – maybe we could sometimes bag some of this stuff up. Not that I don't wanna eat it or nothin' but because there's so much of it an' it's so so good. Figure that people who don't know when they're eatin' next would 'preciate some proper home cookin' like this. But – uh – I mean, if you don't wanna do it then I totally get it and – ,"

"What a beautiful idea."

At some point throughout his semi garbled sentence, he has dropped his head to stare down at his feet and so hears but doesn't see his mother snap her glove off or reach out a hand until it gently cups his cheek. When he looks up, her eyes are tight on him and shimmering in an overabundance of love. She brushes her thumb across his temple smiling widely and he sucks a baffled breath in,

"You like it?"

"Of course I do, let me just finish these last few saucepans and I'll get some containers we can put some things in, one of the women from boxing club helps out at a soup kitchen someplace, I'll ring her now and find out where,"

"Uh, okay."

Dean feels totally and genuinely addled because not only does she not think he's crazy for suggesting it, but she's acting like he's just figured out third world debt or has worked out how to block that gap in the o-zone but he grins at her anyway.

His mother fucking rocks.

Halfway through crossing the room towards the landline, she stops and gives him a funny little look, like she can't quite believe that he's standing in front of her.

"Sweetheart, I'm so proud, you're _such_ a good boy."

It's the sort of heartfelt sentence he has been dying to hear said to him for what probably amounts to the whole length of his life and so he has to suck a breath in to stop the words from choking or making him do something like crying or shit like that. Still, the one thing he can't hold back from is surging across the distance and wrapping her up in a hug, squeezing her tight enough to possibly hurt her but not able to stop it because he worships her so much. She returns it at once and then kisses his hairline,

"I love you son."

"Love you too mom."

Dean hangs around in the kitchen tidying as Mama Reigns makes the all important call, although first of all before his idea can be presented the women evidently need to have a chat. As far as he can tell it involves someone's husband having an attack of some weird sounding ailment called gout, which engenders some sympathetic cooing from his mother but leaves him confused and full of grisly swirling thoughts. Midway through, she waves at a trash bag and then mimes a plea for him to take out it out front, covering the phone with her hand as he hefts it and whispering across the countertop,

"Thanks sweetheart."

"Sure."

Outside the world is crawling towards fall again and for the first time that summer there is a nip in the air, not enough to make him want to dig his winter coat out but enough at least to warn him that the new season is creeping near. He grunts a little at how fast things have happened and how totally different his life was last year, but then stops on the porch with his heart thumping wildly and the trash bag still swinging.

The choppy blonde is there.

Not right in front of him, but there on the sidewalk, stood across the street in her signature ripped jeans and once more alternatively being towed and then impeded as the chunky little bulldog trotted a step then stalled on repeat. She's wearing some headphones and is humming a little, probably way too loudly thinking no can hear and it sounds so sweet and damn well _enchanting_ that Dean all but freezes and exhales a word,

"Crap."

She hasn't yet seen him, which is probably a good thing because it means that he can simply sort of watch her a little more and he's halfway through trailing his eyes across her figure and biting on his lip when there's a voice at his ear,

"Go and introduce yourself uce, what're you waiting for?"

He jumps a mile and then grumbles,

" _Roman_."

His brother is leant against the frame of the doorway with his arms across his chest and he's looking bizarrely proud. Dean flushes hot and then shakes his head rapidly, clearing his throat as he tries to find the words. He's scared but he doesn't want to make that seem obvious and so throws in a shrug like he isn't crapping rocks.

"I – uh – I don't think she'd kinda be my _type_ y' know?"

Roman rolls his eyes and pushes off the door, trampling down the white steps towards him and plucking the trash bag right out of his hand. He pushes him too – well, digs is more like it – planting his elbow right into Dean's spine and forcing him into an off kilter stagger onto the driveway,

"She'll love you, now _go_."

"C' mon, you can't make me."

Dean clenches his fists crossly because the more he is pushed the more he wants to rebel and clearly his older brother knows that about him, because he stops trying to prod and simply raises a brow.

"You made _me_."

"Ugh."

Roman has played the ace card and with it he has stolen the moral high ground too because instantly Dean knows what his brother is referring to. His own blind date just two weeks before which as far as Dean can tell had gone off almost perfectly, which is possibly why Roman has already seen her twice more and is potentially why he now sings in the shower both loudly and more often than not, out of tune. But his brother's poor crooning simply isn't the point here and Dean knows that fact with a growing sense of dread, because if Roman can conquer his fear of being heartsick then the kid can do it too –

Or should _try_ to at least.

Seeing his fretful hesitation however, Roman blows out a long soothing breath and as usual his broad palm finds the teen's neckline, massaging gently as he pep talks him up,

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, but if you take this chance now, nothing will ever hold you back. Besides, you're a god damn sixteen year old businessman, so if you don't believe yourself, you can sure as hell believe in that."

There's a final sort of stumble as Roman once again propels him, but this time Dean goes with it in a dream, his sneakers crunching quickly across the warm asphalt in a way that doesn't seem connected to his brain. Over the street, the blonde girl is moving and there's a genuine chance that she might skip away. It makes Dean speed up and his awareness storms back again because he doesn't want to lose her.

He skids clumsily in.

"Uh, hey."

She blinks in fleeting confusion and then slips off her headphones with a mild frown,

"Um, hi."

Her blue eyes – like his – look curious but bewildered and silence falls between them which is awkward as hell. In fact Dean almost actually physically hits himself, but manages not to because it would only make things worse although _how_ worse exactly is actually debatable. Thankfully however the fat little bulldog chooses that moment to blunder up,

"Uh, cool pooch y' got."

Her face lights up on instinct,

"Thanks, he's the best– uh – do you have any pets?"

He shakes his head,

"No, always wanted a dog though, my mom says I look like one with my hair."

To make the point he wags his bangs a little and the sound of her giggling is just music to his ears. _He_ has made her laugh and it makes him feel amazing. She likes him – _him_ – without the businessman stuff. He grins like an idiot in return and she pauses, to indicate the dog,

"This is Blue, I'm Renee."

He draws a breath in and tries to fight down the happiness at just how damn perfect the whole world really is, then puts a hand out to break his new name-cherry and feels everything slot into place at last,

"Dean Reigns."

* * *

 **That's it folks, looks like we're all done here and all loose ends (I hope) are tied up.**

 **Let me know if you could bare to read another or if you think it's all over and done and in the meantime for another who reads my Shield police AU stories (presumptuous I know) then I'm going to start posting them on the same nights as my Dean/Lauren story…**

 **In other words, new Shield story coming from Saturday, hope to see you there!**

 **In the meantime, thanks all!**


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